Macrame Bag Design

Get the latest macrame bag design here!

macrame bag design

Get the latest macrame bag design here!

Looking for an affordable bag that not only looks good but is oh so on trend? Enter the DIY macrame bag design.

Chances are you’ve probably seen rope bags around, maybe your grandma uses one to carry her groceries? But did you know they are back? (Tell your nan she’s totally cool now!) A trend that’s turned up on your Pinterest via that Tumblr-French-girl-aesthetic, I have to say it suits me well…. Not because I’m anything vaguely resembling French but because these days I’m more likely to need a bag that fits fruit than a tiny handbag for going to the discotheque. Don’t hate me! Oh and when something starts to trend and you can make it yourself, I’m obviously going to be into it. Of course!

This is the first time we’ve had a go at this style of bad, and for this one we used thicker rope that has been used in our other macrame bag design projects. We made ours smallish but I think it would look really good in a bigger size too.

What You'll Need

40 METRES OF ROPE

SCISSORS

GLUE GUN

2 BAG HANDLE

Begin by cutting your rope into 40 pieces - roughly 75cm - 1m (30 inches - 40 inches) long depending own how long you want your bag. In general, make your rope pieces 3 x the length of the bag length you want.

Take two pieces of rope, fold them in half and loop the mid-points around the bag handle.

Insert the tail ends of the rope through the loop, then pull the knot taut.

Continue knotting the rope pieces along the bag handle, and be aware of the direction you thread the loops in as it will affect which side the knot is on. Do 10 on each handle.

To begin weaving your bag, take two strands of rope from each knot.

Keeping the two strands in the middle, take the remaining two next to them and tie a knot around the middle strands.

Repeat and tie another knot around the middle strands again, then tighten.

This is what the knot will look like after tightening. It's commonly known as a 'Square Knot'.

Be mindful of the spacing between the knots.

I started the first row of knots 3'' down from the handle, then spaced the followings rows 2'' apart from the previous row.

This is the first row of knots done on one side of the bag. Once you have repeated the steps on the other handle you will need to attach the two sides together using the ropes on the sides, so the outside ropes should be left untied.

To weave the second row of knots, take 2 strands from each knot and repeat the same knotting process.

Start another row of knots, spacing them around 5cm (2 inches) apart. Continue until both handles have the knotted macrame fabric.

Once two sides are done, hanging them up and aligning them makes the process of weaving the two sides together much easier. As before, you'll by tying square knots to create the weave, using the strands from the knots on the sides this time.

When weaving the two sides of the bag together, you'll want to start the first row of knots lower, since the position of these knots will determine how wide you'll be able to open the bag.

To close off the bottom, tie the tail ends of one side of the bag to the opposite side. It's also a good idea to dab a little hot glue into the ends of the ropes when you cut them, to prevent them from slipping back open or fraying too much.

We decided to snip off all the excess tail ends and flip the macrame bag design out for a simpler and cleaner finish. But you could always leave the tails and even fray them so they look like decorative tassels.

Totally ready to hit the beach, or the farmers markets! A quick thought – when carrying valuables in this bag I would suggest a little zip purse for smaller items just so they don’t fall through the cracks. Enjoy!