Macrame Revisited

I was a child of the late 60's & early 70's so I grew up with macrame everything. In California where I lived it was prevalent in clothing, jewelry, hair ornaments, ubiquitous plant hangers and of course home decor. There was not one area of life where macrame was not used. Well maybe it wasn't used in food, but just about everywhere else. Towards the end of the trend, it was getting pretty ticky-tacky.

Picture of man-crame via here

Xmas tat via Google

Lately, I noticed a resurgence which makes me very nostalgic. There are loads of new artisans (young blood) that practice the art, so the ideas are fresh and not your Gramma's tat. Simple is usually best with macrame, such as the hangers below:

Simple hanging pot holders via here

There are obvious exceptions though. I found this pic of a beautiful room divider by macrame artist Sally England:

Beautiful Divider by SallyEngland.com

Macrame is of course the art of knotting in a set pattern to achieve a type of woven fabric or project that is open or closed weave. The above pots demonstrate the most open of patterns, the Christmas Tree is a very closed pattern. I love the look of natural materials used in the macrame process, wood, shells, rocks, beads and in a more natural color as well. I remember acrylic/nylon ropes and yarns used in the past. The colors were horrendous and the fuzzy ends were not the best look either! Here are some pix of contemporary pieces:

Headboard via Bee of Design

Hangers via Pinterest

Fabulous Furniture via here

And there are beautiful designs in jewelry as well:

Gorgeous necklace via here

DIY necklace via here

Macrame is a must in Bohemian/Boho decor and also works well in nautically designed spaces. There are loads of books through Amazon (some of the best are vintage) as well as tutorials on Youtube and Pinterest that will get you started on a project. Once you do start though, be prepared to have a new obsession! Have any projects you'd like to share? Make a comment and let me know!