Easy 2-needle Right-angle Weave Bracelet (sizes May Vary!)

It was a great day: Tiny Hands was going to her first birthday party, a "Princess" themed party. She was all dressed up in a pretty pink layered dress, little sandals and a clean white sweater, her braids swinging as she walked. And dangling from her wrist was the little pink and white bracelet I made her for the occasion. She was too, too cute.

Well, naturally, being 3, she wore it for about 5 minutes and wanted to take it off, but still! It was adorable. And so I decided to make my own matching bracelet. And hopefully with this Instructable, you will want to make one too, for yourself or maybe your own Tiny Hands. The right-angle weave (or RAW) technique is relatively simple and the pattern is easy once you get going. Follow along and you'll see what I mean.

Step 1: What You'll Need

Here are the materials used to make my blue and brown bracelet:
- 3-4mm blue round beads
- brown round beads (same size as the blue)
- a few charm beads to make dangles with
- Nymo B thread (or any thread that will fit through the bead hole at least twice)
- head pins
- jump rings (preferably soldered)
- a clasp
- TWO beading needles

To make Tiny Hands' bracelet, I used pink and white round beads, and a little blue heart charm. The tools I have in the picture are my Fiskar scissors, a small measuring tape (to determine your comfortable bracelet length), round nose pliers, two flat nose pliers, and wire clippers.

Step 2: Making Dangles

Now this step is really the only reason why you have so many pliers. To create the dangles, I use a technique called wire-wrapped loops. These can be tricky to make the first few times, but look great and are very strong once you get it down pat.

First off, pass a headpin through the bead hole. With your round nose pliers, grip the pin right above the bead and push the pin back to a 90 degree angle (this allows space for the wrapping). Move your pliers up now to the bend and grip the bent side right at the angle (image 2). Gently pull the bent wire up and over the pliers to make a loop, and keep going until the wire is going back in the direction you started (image 3). Keeping your round nose pliers in the hole to keep the bead sturdy and the loop round, grip the end of the wire and pull it around to form a spiral around the pin under the loop (images 4 and 5). Clip off any excess wire and tuck in (image 6). You can now add your dangle to the clasp component with jumprings (image 7). Put aside for later.

Step 3: Starting the Bracelet

Cut a 3' length of thread (or whatever length you're comfortable working with), and fold it in half.  Pick up a jumpring (soldered, if you have, so that your knot won't slip through the cut in a regular jumpring), and pass the loop of the thread through. Next, pull the two ends of the thread through the thread loop and pull tight. This will give you a larkshead knot through the jumpring. To secure, tie two more overhand knots, or a surgeon's knot. You can also apply glue for a stronger bond.

Add 1 brown bead on both threads and pull over the knot.

Step 4: Stitching Commences

Now you'll begin the right-angle weave (RAW) pattern. Thread each thread end through a needle, and keep them as separate as possible to avoid tangling and knots. With one needle (A), add a blue bead, and then with the other needle (B), pass through the bead hole going in the opposite direction. Pull tight so that it sits on top of the other bead. Your bead holes should be perpendicular.

Add a blue bead on each needle A and B. Then, with a brown bead, pass the needles through the hole going in opposite directions. This will give you the first circle unit. Then add a brown bead each on needle A and B, and cross through a blue. Continue with this stitch until you've reached the desired length (which should be a little shorter than you want the final length to be, to allow for the clasp).

Step 5: Tying It Off

To finish, thread both A and B back through a brown bead and pull tight against your last circle unit. Then pass both threads through the clasp jumpring a few times and go back through the brown bead. Pass each thread back through the last blue bead, but going opposite directions again, and tie a knot on each side. Pull the threads through the next side beads to hide the knots (and glue if desired!). You can go back through the stitching as many times as you want, adding as many knots as you want, but just be sure to hide them along the way. Finally, trim the ends.

Step 6: And You're Done!

And voilà, your bracelet is done! They are so simple to make at any length and you can change up the colours any way you like, or use one colour, or a rainbow. Or use different beads (bicones work up great in this stitch). Or add another row for a cuff! It's a great universal stitch; I'm sure you'll learn to love it as I do.

Tiny Hands says enjoy!