Group macramé wall hanging

Macramé cord, a wooden dowel or branch to hang it from, and scissors. That is it. Use 3 to 5mm cotton cord for wall hangings, because it is soft, holds knots well, and frays into a nice fringe. A single ball goes a long way. For a group project, a longer dowel lets several people work side by side, each on their own section of knots.

Two will carry you a long way. The square knot and the half-hitch are the backbone of almost every beginner pattern, and a whole wall hanging can be made from variations of just those. Learn the square knot first, practise it ten times until your hands remember it, then add the spiral (which is just a square knot tied the same way each time) and the diagonal half-hitch for shaping.

Inconsistent tension, almost always. Macramé looks even when every knot is pulled with the same firmness, and beginners tend to yank some tight and leave others loose. Work on a flat surface or pin the dowel up at a fixed height so the cords hang under their own weight. Counting the same number of wraps per knot and keeping your working cords the same length helps the rows stay level.

The rule of thumb is to cut each cord roughly four times the length of your finished piece, then fold it in half, so a 50cm hanging needs cords cut to about 2 metres. Dense knotting eats more cord than you expect, and running out halfway through a row is a real headache because you cannot neatly join a new length. When in doubt, cut longer. You can always trim the fringe.

It works well if you divide the dowel into sections. Give each person a defined block of cords and a pattern to follow, so several people knot in parallel without reaching across each other. Knotting is repetitive and rhythmic once people get the basic move, which makes it surprisingly sociable. Assign one person to plan the overall design so the separate sections still read as one piece when they meet.