DIY Dreamcatcher

When I was a wee child I had a dreamcatcher over my bed. It was purple and turquoise, brought to me from New Mexico and I loved it. Sadly, as the years have passed neither my mother nor I can remember what happened to it. As I was browsing Pinterest recently, I came across this beauty and was inspired to remake my childhood keepsake. So here, folks, is what I did.

If you check out that link, you’ll see that they made the clever decision to use a doily as the center of the dreamcatcher. Of course, I have never been someone who makes things easy for herself, so I decided to learn and execute the traditional woven style, as explained in wonderful detail in this post.

Michael’s was having a huge sale, and I had a stash of beads and an embroidery hoop at my disposal, so I’d say this project cost me about $10, but could get up to $20 if you had to buy all the supplies at once.

Here’s what I used (or, what I planned to use. I did not end up using everything, as you’ll see at the end).

My color palette was cream and soft dusty pink and tan. The packages of feathers and leaves included really pretty dark browns and reds, though, so I might need to make another dreamcatcher with those soon…

I started by wrapping my hoop with the lace. I didn’t need to glue it all the way around, just at the beginning/end of the hoop.

Once that was all set I braided a few pieces of twine to make the loop that the dreamcatcher hangs from.

Then came the intimidating part, the weaving. I am not a sewer/crocheter/knitter and it took me a while to get the hang of it. And, to be honest, took a LOT longer than I thought it would. That doily idea seemed better and better as an hour turned into two (embarrassing, but true). However, I did manage it and I was really glad I went with the weave because it reminds me so much of the little dreamcatcher of my youth.

Can you see where I messed up right at the end? Bless you if you say no, but that wonky gap next to the center opening was NOT intentional. So, I did what any good crafter does, and I glued something pretty over it.

All better!

Time for the creative part- all the dangly bits of ribbon, beads and feathers that give dreamcatchers their character!

To hang everything I used my twine and a little superglue in some places to make sure everything stayed where I wanted it to. I didn’t end up using all my beads, but they will stick around for another project on another day.

Here she is, my new dreamcatcher all gussied up!