Sunflower Sunny Dreams Dreamcatcher

I recently got an idea to make a sunflower dreamcatcher. I've never seen one like I had pictured, so I had to set out to create it. I keep calling it a suncatcher in my head, though that's a whole different project! This boho inspired project certainly adds some cheer to the walls and, hopefully, some protection against bad dreams. If you've never made a dreamcatcher, or worked with macrame knots before, follow along and I'll show you how to create your own.

For this dreamcatcher, you will need:

-faux sunflower

-waxed cord

-beads

-hot glue

-grapevine covered wire

-cotton fabric

-feathers

-cardboard box

-straight pins

-macrame cord

-scissors

-fine tooth comb

-flat iron (optional)

-xacto knife

The first thing we need to do is disassemble the sunflower. This may vary depending on the faux sunflower you use. My sunflower is from Michael's Craft Stores and came in one of those bushes with several flowers together in a bush. This sunflower was assembled very similarly to most faux flowers I've worked with, so it's likely whatever you use will be the same.

To disassemble the flower, pull the sunflower head off the stem and then pull the middle part of the sunflower out. If there are any leaves, retain one of those to use as a template for the macrame leaves later on.

Once the flower is disassembled, I used some grapevine covered floral wire to create a mini frame that is the same size as the top of the middle part of the sunflower. I made the frame with 2 wires and wound them around one another to hold each other in place.

Now that we have the frame of our dreamcatcher, we can weave the web. Using waxed cord makes web weaving much easier and it can be found in the jewelry department at most craft stores. Plus wax cord comes in many different colors so you can choose what color you like best! I decided on a blue cord.

Cut a piece of waxed cord that is maybe longer than you expect to use. It is better in this whole project to have too much cord than not enough. You can always trim the extra cord off if you end up with too much. I cut a cord about 3 feet in length (and there was a little leftover in the end, as expected).

If you've never made a dreamcatcher before, I found a simple video tutorial for you to follow, but I'll do my best to explain the steps below too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGpiHzxooTo

To begin, I tied an overhand knot between the two ends where the grapevine wire meet up at the bottom of the frame. Decide how many divisions you want to work with, it should be an odd number. For my dreamcatcher, I decided to go with 9 divisions. How ever many divisions you want to make, visually divide your frame by that number and try to keep the space between each loop the same.

Pull the cord out to the first length and loop the cord over the frame. Pull the cord around the frame then go through the "window" created between the cord and the frame. Pull the cord tight to secure. Continue to the next division and loop the cord over the frame, pull the cord around and then through the newly created window. Continue this step around the entire frame until you get back to the beginning. This is your first round.

When back to the beginning of the frame, feed the cord through the first window and center the cord in the middle. Pull the cord through, then loop back and make the same loop as in the first rounds. Center the cord on the cord from the first round. Add beads as you go, if desired.

Continue going around and around creating the web until you are so close to the center that it gets too difficult to keep weaving. You can add a bead in the middle, if desired, or you can leave the middle open as I did.

Now that the dreamcatcher piece is complete, we can glue the petals of the sunflower back together using hot glue. Since we pulled the disc floret (the middle part) out, the petals will no longer stay together. To fix this, add dabs of hot glue between each layer, making sure to stagger the petals as you go. When the petals are all glued together, cut a hole through the middle that is the same size as the dreamcatcher frame.

Next we need to cut the center out of the disc floret of the sunflower (the part that would have seeds if it was a real sunflower). I placed the middle face down on a cutting board and used a utility knife to carefully cut through the back of the piece. This part is made out of plastic with a fuzzy coating on the front. Once I managed to cut a hole, I put the piece on its side and carefully rolled and cut along the edge until enough was removed that you couldn't see the fuzzy parts of the disc through the dreamcatcher. Be careful with this step, you could easily end up cutting yourself.

I inverted the rim of the disc floret to give it a concave shape rather than convex, so it would lift the dreamcatcher up at the top of the rim instead of the dreamcatcher resting on the part I cut out. I hot glued the rim to the sunflower petals which helped encourage the petals to come out towards the center. Once that was secure, I glued the dreamcatcher frame to the rim of the disc.

Now that the top is done, it's time to focus on the bottom of the dreamcatcher! Bottoms of dreamcatchers usually involve feathers or leaves, and various ropes or cords, maybe ribbons and beads. For my dreamcatcher, I decided to have leaves, cords, braids and fabric strips... you can get really creative with the design!

To make a macrame leaf, you will need a cardboard box, a straight pin, macrame cord, sharp scissors, a comb and a flat iron (optional).

Start by cutting 12 inches of macrame cord. Fold the cord in half and tie a knot close to the top, leaving a little loop at the top. Put a straight pin through the loop and push it into a cardboard box to hold the cord in place while you make the leaf. This cord is the stem of your leaf.

Next, cut about 60, 6 inch pieces of macrame cord. The easiest way I have found to do this is to find something that is about 3 inches wide and wrap the macrame cord around that object over and over. A cell phone works pretty well actually! Once you have wrapped the cord quite a few times around the phone, slide the cord off and cut along the bottom of the loops. This will leave you with a pile of 6 inch long cords. Doing this process in batches makes it easier to cut through the loops at the end.

Once you have all your cords cut, you are ready to start tying knots!

Take one piece of cord and fold it in half, we will call this cord A. Place cord A under both strings of the stem cord with the loop facing the left. Next, take a second piece of cord, we'll call it cord B, and hold the ends of the cord. Feed the tails of cord A through the loop of cord B. Then feed the tails of cord B through the loop of cord A. Pull both cord tails at the same time and form a square knot.

Depending on the look you like, you can either keep all the knots on the same side of the stem or you can alternate. I prefer to alternate the knots so they're not all on one side of the stem. The knot will end up on the side of the stem you put the cord A loop on. So if the loop is facing the left, the knot will be on the left. To alternate sides, face cord A's loop to the right and then back to the left on the next one (and so on).

Make 28 square knots using the rest of your cords or until the number of cords fits the size of the leaf.

Once there are enough square knots to make the size of the leaf you want to make, unpin the stem from the box and trim the cord into a leaf shape. I used the leaf that came with the sunflower as a template. Cut the cords a little larger than the end size you want the end leaf to be. You can always trim more off, but like a Barbie haircut, there's no putting it back on once you cut it off.

Next, use a fine tooth comb to brush out the leaf and fray the cord. If desired, you can run the leaf through a flat iron (or you can use a regular iron too) to help straighten the fibers. If you use a flat iron, comb the leaf out again before trimming the leaf to the final shape.

Repeat the steps for the amount of leaves you'd like to include in the dreamcatcher.

Now that we have some pretty macrame leaves, let's make some extra things to hang from the dreamcatcher along with them.

First, let's make a lark's head knot braid. Cut two lengths of macrame cord, one 20 inches and one 60 inches in length. Fold both cords in half and tie in a knot at the top. Pin the cords to the cardboard box with the straight pin to secure it in place.

Arrange the two shorter cords in the middle and the long cords off to either side. Form a loop with one of the longer cords by feeding it under both of the middle cords. Loop the cord back over the middle cords, then tuck the tail through the loop and pull. Cinch the knot up to the top of the middle cords and then repeat the same steps on the same side. Two of these knots together are called a lark's head knot.

Switch to the other side of the cords and repeat with the other long cord, making sure to snug the knots up to the top as you go.

Keep repeating one full lark's head knot per side, then switch sides and doing another. Alternate as you go. The knots will start to twist as you continue, encouraging the twisting will actually make it easier as your braid grows longer.

When you have reached the desired length, tie a knot in the end of the cord and fray the tail out using a fine tooth comb.

Now that we have a lark's head knot braid, I decided to make two regular braids to go on either side of it. For each braid, I used three lengths of macrame cord and frayed one of the three cords, which ended up not making that big of a difference. I didn't include steps on how to make a regular braid, but here's an easy to follow tutorial if you need one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxJY4lna5q0

I also created some thin strips of white cotton fabric by snipping a small notch into the fabric then pulling the fabric to create a frayed strip. I used 8 strips total.

Finally, I cut 12, 20 inch lengths of macrame cord.

In order to attach everything to the bottom of the dreamcatcher, I first made a circle of wire and threaded the braids onto the loop. For the lengths of cord and strips of fabric, we can attach those to the wire by making more lark's head knots. These are simply making a loop facing outside the wire loop then pulling the ends of the rope or fabric through the loop and pulling tight to snug the knot up to the wire.

I arranged my dreamcatcher bottom as follows:

fabric strip

2 macrame cords

fabric strip

2 macrame cords

3 string braid

2 macrame cords

fabric strip

lark's head knot braid

2 macrame cords

fabric strip

3 string braid

2 macrame cords

fabric strip

2 macrame cords

fabric strip

Once all the cords, braids and fabric strips were threaded onto the wire, I hot glued the wire onto the back of the flower. It's not pretty, but it's the back! You could neaten this up by covering with some fabric, I would imagine, if you wanted it a little nicer looking. Make sure you don't interfere with the hole cut for the dreamcatcher.

Now that the bottom was complete, I had to decide where to attach the leaves and if I wanted any feathers. I found it easiest to work with it at this stage by hanging it on the wall so the pieces all lined up. I temporarily attached the leaves by pulling a piece of fabric through the top loops then decided how I wanted to trim the cords and fabric strips. I decided to cut everything in a V shape where the lark's head knot braid would be the longest part. Once I trimmed everything down to the correct length, I used a few dabs of hot glue to hold the leaves and feathers in place.

This was a fun project to do, and I love the way it turned out! I was inspired by the Ukrainian people, as you likely know, sunflowers are their national flower. I hope this sunflower dreamcatcher helps inspire you to create your own sunflower themed project. Don't forget to tag your projects to help inspire others too and to show your support, #sunflowerchallenge #sunflowersforukraine #sunflowersforpeace #peaceforukraine

May sunnier days be ahead.

💙💛