Why the candy striped friendship bracelet is still the best way to start making jewelry

Honestly, it starts with a tangle. You’re sitting on a bed or a bus, safety pin shoved through the knee of your jeans, holding three or four strands of embroidery floss that somehow feel like they have a mind of their own. It’s the candy striped friendship bracelet. Everyone starts here. It’s the "Hello World" of the fiber arts world. If you can tie a double knot over a string, you can make one. If you can’t, well, you’re about to have a very frustrating twenty minutes before the muscle memory finally kicks in and your hands just... take over.

The beauty is in the repetition. It’s basically just rows of forward knots. That’s it. You move from left to right, one color at a time, creating those iconic diagonal slashes of color that look like a vintage sweet shop.

Why the candy striped friendship bracelet beats the chevron every time for beginners

Most people want to jump straight into the chevron—that "V" shape that looks so professional. But here’s the thing: the chevron requires you to know both forward and backward knots, and you have to meet in the middle perfectly or the whole thing looks wonky. The candy striped friendship bracelet is much more forgiving. You only need to master one movement. It builds the tension control you need for the complex "alpha" patterns later on.

I've seen so many people give up on friendship bracelets because they tried a complex pattern from a YouTube thumbnail and ended up with a knotted mess that looked more like a bird's nest than jewelry. Start with the stripes. Seriously.

Picking the right thread (It actually matters)

Don't buy the cheap, generic craft thread from the dollar store if you can avoid it. It frays. It snaps. It feels like plastic. Look for DMC or Anchor embroidery floss. These are 100% mercerized cotton. The "mercerized" part is key because it gives the thread a slight sheen and makes it slide against itself easily. When you're pulling a knot tight on a candy striped friendship bracelet, you want that smooth glide.

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If the thread is too "toothy," your knots will get stuck halfway up the string, leaving weird gaps. You’ll end up with a finished product that’s lumpy. Nobody wants a lumpy bracelet.

The physics of the forward knot

Let's get technical for a second, but not in a boring way. A "knot" in a friendship bracelet is actually two half-hitch knots.

1. You take your working string (the one that provides the color for the row).
2. You make a "4" shape over the stationary string.
3. You tuck the end through the loop and pull it up.
4. You do that exact same thing again.

Two halves make a whole. If you only do one, the bracelet will start to twist like a DNA helix. Some people actually like that—it’s called a spiral staircase bracelet—but if you’re aiming for those clean, crisp candy stripes, you need that second half-hitch to lock the knot in place and keep it flat.

Troubleshooting the "Curling" problem

This is the number one complaint. You’re halfway through, and the bracelet starts curling into a circle or twisting like a piece of rotini pasta. This usually happens because your tension is too tight. You're yanking. Relax.

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Another trick is to make sure you aren't pulling the knot "out" to the side. Pull it "up" toward the top of the bracelet. If you pull to the side, you’re distorting the stationary strings, which forces the whole structure to lean. The candy striped friendship bracelet has a natural diagonal pull anyway, but you don't want it to become a spiral.

Setting up your workspace

• The Safety Pin Method: Classic. Pin it to your pants. Just don't poke your leg.
• The Clipboard: Best for keeping things flat. The clip holds the top knots while you work.
• Tape: Use painters tape or masking tape on a table. Avoid duct tape; it leaves a sticky residue on the thread that will attract dirt forever.
• The "Friendship Bracelet Maker" gadgets: Honestly? You don't need them. They’re plastic junk that usually complicates the process. Your hands and a flat surface are better.

Beyond the basics: Variations that don't suck

Once you've mastered the standard four-color stripe, you can start messing with the "visual weight" of the bracelet. Instead of doing one strand of each color, try doubling up. Use two strands of navy blue, then one of white, then two of navy. This creates a "thick and thin" striped effect that looks way more expensive than it is.

You can also try the "Bordered" candy stripe. This involves keeping one color (usually black or white) on the outside edges at all times. It's a bit more advanced because it requires "switch" knots, but it frames those diagonal lines beautifully.

Real talk about "Friendship" and the history of the craft

We call them friendship bracelets, but the history is actually rooted in indigenous weaving traditions from Central and South America. During the 1970s and 80s, they became huge in the US as symbols of political activism and social protest, particularly related to the disappearances in Guatemala. They weren't just "cute" crafts; they were symbols of solidarity.

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When you make a candy striped friendship bracelet today, you’re participating in a massive, global tradition of knotting. It's Macramé's smaller, more colorful cousin. The tradition says you should make a wish when the bracelet is tied on, and when it eventually wears out and falls off naturally, the wish comes true. Don't cut it off. That's bad luck, or at least that's what we told everyone in middle school.

Length and Measurements

Nothing is worse than finishing a beautiful pattern and realizing it won't even fit around your wrist. For a standard candy striped friendship bracelet:
Measure from your fingertips to your shoulder. That’s usually about 30 inches.
If you’re doing a thick bracelet (10+ strings), go even longer.
Always leave about 3-4 inches of "loose" thread at the beginning and end for the braids.
Braiding the ends makes it much easier to tie and untie. A simple three-strand braid is fine, but a four-strand round braid feels like a pro move.

Moving to the next level

So, you've finished the stripes. You've got five of them on your wrist. What now?

The logic of the candy striped friendship bracelet is the foundation for everything else. If you understand how that diagonal line is formed, you can understand how to reverse it to make a chevron. From there, you can learn to "carry" a thread underneath others to create "alphas"—those bracelets with actual words or tiny pixelated pictures on them.

But honestly? Sometimes the simple stripes are the best. They’re meditative. You can do them while watching a movie or sitting on a plane without having to stare at a complex pattern chart on your phone.

Next Steps for Your First Bracelet

1. Select three high-contrast colors. Think: Navy, Gold, and Burgundy. Or Mint, Coral, and White. High contrast makes the stripes pop.
2. Cut each strand to 32 inches. Better to have too much than to run out three inches from the finish line.
3. Tie an overhand knot at the top, leaving a loop for the button or tie-on.
4. Organize your strings in the order you want the colors to appear.
5. Focus on the double-knot. Remind yourself: "Four shape, pull up. Four shape, pull up."
6. Maintain even tension. Don't strangle the thread; just snug it up.
7. Finish with two small braids instead of just a raw knot to make it easier to wear.