Macramé Mastery

Macramé: A Textile Art Using Knotting Techniques

• Macramé is a textile produced using knotting techniques, rather than weaving or knitting.
• The primary knots of macramé are the square (or reef knot) and forms of hitching.
• The Cavandoli style of macramé is used to form geometric and free-form patterns like weaving.
• Leather or fabric belts, friendship bracelets, and jewelry are often created using macramé techniques.
• The art of macramé has been used for decoration since the Babylonians and Assyrians, where fringe-like plaiting and braiding adorned the costumes of the time.
• The word macramé could be derived from the Andalusian-Arabic version macramia, believed to mean "striped towel", "ornamental fringe" or "embroidered veil".
• Macramé was introduced to England at the court of Mary II in the late 17th century.
• The art of macramé was popular in the Victorian era, especially in Genoa, where it was a specialty.
• Nineteenth-century British and American sailors made hammocks, bell fringes, and belts from macramé.
• The art of macramé resurged in the 1970s for making wall hangings, clothing accessories, and furnishings, and again in the early 1980s, only to be revived by millennials.
• Materials used in macramé include cords made of cotton twine, linen, hemp, jute, leather, or yarn.
• A knotting board is often used to mount the cords for macramé work, and cords may be held in place using a C-clamp, straight pins, T-pins, U-pins, or upholstery pins.