HOW TO: Make a Dreamcatcher

Dreamcatchers are beautiful pieces with a rich tradition and history from Native-American culture. Traditionally, dreamcatchers would be hung to filer bad dreams and bad thoughts from the mind of those who hang them.

These days, dreamcatchers can be found in the furthest corners of the world, hanging in homes, bedrooms, clothing stores, salons and more! Invoking a sense of bohemian chic spirituality, dreamcatchers can provide a wonderful way to add that something special to any bedroom or home.

Making a dreamcatcher is extremely rewarding and surprisingly easy to complete. So if you're ready for a DIY kind of afternoon, creating something beautiful for your home, then follow our simple guide.

We love the rich history of the dreamcatcher and the energy it can introduce to a room. Whether you love the look, believe in the spirituality of it or just have an affinity for arts and crafts, this is a project which can be extremely rewarding and fulfilling as well as a great DIY option for home decorating.

What You Will Need

- Hoop - this can be made from metal, plastic or wood - as long as it is round.

- Material - this is what the hoop will be wrapped in. Leather strips, yarn, thread, cut up old t-shirts etc. The material you use should not be too wide.

- Strong string / thread - this is used for the inside of the dreamcatcher, to make the mandala pattern.

- Superglue - For tidying up those bits and pieces.

- Ornaments - Beads, gems, feathers - with holes throughout so you can thread them along the inside of the dreamcatcher.

It does not matter what size hoop you use, the principles will always remain the same. You can use a hula-hoop for a giant sized dreamcatcher, or you can use a bangle for a more modest craft creation!

Think about whether or not you’re going to want to do multi-hoop projects, perhaps you will end up with a multi-hoop bonanza like the ones below:

How And When You'll Need it:

Wrap It |

Taking your hoop and material, we’re going to begin by wrapping the hoop.


Note: If you're using string, you're going to need to gave enough to wrap it around the hoop many times. If you're using a material that is thicker, you'll require less to wrap the entire way around the hoop.


- To get an idea of how long your material will need to be, wrap it around your hoop a couple of times. Overlap the material the tiniest amount, ensuring there are no gaps. Did you use more or less material than you expected? Does it seem like you're going to need to more? Perhaps you have more than enough? Once you’ve determined this, it’s time to start wrapping

- Add a small dab of superglue to your hoop and stick down the first bit of your material, making sure it is dry before continuing.

- Continue wrapping the material around the hoop, from your starting point, making sure there are no gaps. Some people use double sided tape or super glue at intervals along the hoop to keep it tight and to stop the material from slipping or moving as you work your way along.

- Once you’ve gotten back to the starting point, trim the material down and superglue the final piece in place, as close to the beginning as you can - You can leave a small gap between the start and end point, this is where you will begin the next stage of the project.

Thread It |

Note: This part is the most difficult and also often the most frustrating but we urge you to PERSEVERE! It is very rewarding to see how it all comes together to make the beautiful, traditional mandala pattern.

Keep in mind, you may want to thread beads or gems through the string as you go along this section.



Watch this tutorial video to help get you on your way to making beautiful patterns. We’re going to start off with the traditional mandala / lotus pattern but feel free to research interesting and unique approaches to this section of the task, you’ll find it makes all the difference.

This section is tricky so we found this video tutorial to help demonstrate exactly what you’re going to need to do for this section.

Skip to 1:20 for this section.

Note: The demonstration does not show how to add beads or gems to your dreamcatcher. However, once you understand the process, it is much easier to visualise how and where you’d like to add your beads.

Go back, undo it all and add the beads you want, go on...we dare you!

Decorate It |

Want to add a bead or crystal to the centre, have tassels streaming off the bottom or perhaps you love it so much you just want to keep adding dreamcatcher after dreamcatcher after dreamcatcher to the original hoop.

- Take your feathers, ornaments etc and tie or superglue your string securely to it the most reasonable section. Ie. on a feather, the non-feather bit at the bottom

- Simply tie, superglue or arttach in anyway, the other end of the string to wherever you wish to see your ornaments hanging from.

- If you want it attached to the base of the dreamcatcher, tie it to the bottom of your hoop.

- If you want to tie it to the middle of the dreamcatcher, tie your string to the final inside string of your mandala pattern.

note: wherever you tie, super glue and attach things to your dreamcatcher, make sure to tidy up all the loose ends by cutting off any extra string, material etc.

All images via Pinterest

We'd love to see your creation, share your dreamcatchers with the community, post your photos in the comments section below