This is How To Keep Macrame Cord From Fraying (Step-by-Step Guide)
Cording is among the few fabric trims to use in dressing up a craft or sewing project. However, no matter how beautiful your macrame cord is, it is likely to fray, which might as well interfere with your whole macrame project.
Nothing can be more frustrating than investing in a strong and quality macrame only to fray at the end. Therefore if you need to get the best from your macrame cords, you should understand how to prevent the cord from fraying to keep the trim ends neat and nice.
Doing this is not hard; you only need to follow a few steps and some of your time, and you are good to go.
Steps to preventing the cords from fraying
Step one
Wrap a tape strip around the cording where you plan to cut it
Step two
Cut the cord against the tape strip to ensure the end of the cord is in tape.
Step three
Apply a generous amount of white craft glue or seam coolant coating to the taped end of the coding. Leave the sealant or glue to dry before discarding the tape. The sealant or glue should dry in just a few minutes.
On Amazon, you can find this quick-drying glue, which dries transparent.
Step four
Add extra sealant or glue if you notice that the cording is fraying when removing the tape. Give the coat time to dry before you continue working on the project.
If you are getting your cord from a fabric store, you should wrap both ends. Seal both cording ends with a sealant or glue similarly. Moreover, seal any fresh cuts when cutting a piece of cording from an individual collection.
How to prevent the macrame cord from fraying
There are several ways you can prevent your cord from fraying. they include
A.Whipping
Cord whipping is among the conventional methods you can use to prevent fraying. This method wraps a flax twine tightly around the rope ends. This method will create a professional and tidy finish and prevent the rope from fraying.
B.Cord splicing
Splicing is an effective technique that terminates the cord without necessarily using a knot. In this method, the cord is looped back and interwoven to create a hard or soft eyelet.
C.End caps
This method proves to be the most durable one when compared to whipping. This is ideal for heavy-duty applications. To bind the fibers together and prevent them from fraying, you will hot seal a smooth and rigid plastic. The technique is ideal for natural fiber products.
D.Hot Knife
You can also use a hot knife to seal the ends to prevent them from fraying. To do this, you will have to put a cord on a thick piece of heat-resistant tile or glass and push the blades gently against the fibers. However, this method is only ideal for synthetic fibers because the heat is not good for natural fibers.
E. Heat sealing
This is the easiest technique but only works with synthetic fibers. It is advisable to use a blowtorch in heating the cord because the torch will heat the fibers evenly and ensure a cleaner fusion at the cord end.
How do you finish the end of Macrame?
You can spend a long time building your mace project, but how you finish means a lot. The way you finish can make it look professional and stay for long or not. The finish can add a distinctive touch to your macrame project, add appearance, secure the work and prevent fraying.
A proper finish means a long-lasting cord. To achieve this, you need to start with simple knots and fastening techniques to finish the macrame projects and then advance to elaborate knots to expand the finish.
Here are the steps to finishing the macrame cords
Step one
You will start by tying an overhand in every knot at the project end, Although simple, the finish is effective for many pieces, create a thread and loop the end of the twist up and through while pulling the knot tightly against the project’s last macrame knot.
Trim the knots underneath the overhand knots and dab some clear household nail polish or glue to the knot to prevent fraying.
Step two
Hold several cords; the simple overhand is not enough. Make it several inches long by making a narrow wrap. Loop a single macrame cord together with the yet-wrapped cords.
Start wrapping from the opposite end length up from the bottom. Leave some loop at the top and twist the cord end through it. Tuck the loop ends and the wrapped thread into the knot by pulling the bottom of the loop rope. And lastly, trim the ends.
Step three
If the material you are using on your macrame project can fluff well, fluff the ends of the macrame project. Do this after an overhand wrap or knot instead of trimming the ends of shorts.
The best fluff to use is nylon or cotton, fray the cords after the last wrap or knot and brush them to make them fluffy. Continue to trim the tips till they become even.
Step four
When working on macrame cords that do not fluff well, include beads at the end of the project. Evenly trim the ropes and then thread them on a bead while tying an overhand knot at the end of the cord.
If there is any excess cord, trim it off and dab some clear nail polish or glue on the cord end. length
Conclusion
Nothing can be so annoying as working on your macrame project for days or hours just to have the ends fraying when you are almost done with the project. While this can be so daunting and morale-killing, there are ways you can stop this, especially if you invested in a sturdy and quality product.
The first way you can prevent this is by purchasing fray-proof cords and using the DIY technique at home. The various DIY home techniques include cord splicing, whipping, end caps, hot knife, and heat sealing.
Resources:
http://www.free-macrame-patterns.com/cord-preparation.html
