Macrame identification and instruction

March 23, 2020 9:20 AM

I love this Prada bag but I aint paying no grand for it, so i want to make my own. I'm a reasonably crafty person with a sewing machine and some sewing experience, but I haven't tried macrame...

Can anyone identify the type of knotting used to make the outter net part of the bag? How about the handles, they look like they might be some kind of cord braid? IF anyone can identify what these specific techniques are called and know of any good youtube tutorials for said techniques, id appreciate it. Once I know more about the knotting / handle braids, I'm confident I will be able to draft a pattern.
Thanks!

posted by WeekendJen to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

The main part of the bag is a basic fishnet with connecting knots. The handles may be knotted or braided around some kind of plastic insert, like some sturdy flexible hose of some kind, to give it that rounded shape. The decorative knots and wraps around the base of the handles look like they are wrapped and sewn or glued on top and may help hide some kind of awkward transition.

The cords will be cut and sewn, glued, or fused together either under those knots at the base of the handle, or on the bottom of the bag where you can't see it.
posted by cilantro at 9:59 AM on March 23, 2020 [2 favorites]

https://www.instructables.com/id/Bind-Fishing-Nets/

I did a perfunctory search for "shuttles" and it seems like they are widely availbalbe on Amazon, eBay, and Etsy. For this kind of work you want a shorter shuttle, and your "gauge" should be small, probably 1 or 1-1/2 inches/
posted by ohshenandoah at 12:58 PM on March 23, 2020

Link isn't working for me; if it's this Prada "silk net" bag, have a look at these tutorials for the outer-bag net construction.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:20 PM on March 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

Iris Gambol, thank you for that first link -- I am going to try it! (Maybe dress it up with a crown knot at the bottom or something, but totally worth a go.)
posted by wenestvedt at 6:06 PM on March 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

Oh, neat! Please consider the hand-protection advice of the second link, esp. given all our washing and sanitizing of late.
posted by Iris Gambol at 6:50 PM on March 23, 2020

For the bag you linked, I’d consider starting with a ring at the bottom, smaller than the bottom, and larks-heading the main cords onto it; then make each handle by plaiting the cords going one way over the cords going the other; and then build the tassels off the ends of the cords, so the only cut ends at all are in the tassels.

And making a form if I could, foam would be nice but cloth sewn over a big can would do.

(A netted reticule. 1820s!)
posted by clew at 12:14 AM on March 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

Oh, and for the handles, I was thinking of what Ashley’s Book of Knots calls square knotted bars: the outer cords do either half hitches or half knots around the inner strands, but you can make all sorts of patterns. A Twisted Bar or Double Tatted Bar would make a nice handle.
posted by clew at 12:27 AM on March 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

eponysterical, clew!
posted by wenestvedt at 6:18 AM on March 24, 2020 [1 favorite]