DIY Dreamcatcher
I suppose you could say our little love affair with dreamcatchers started with our February trip to LA. Emily and I spent a morning exploring the streets of Venice, and fell in love with a stunning dreamcatcher in the window of a small boutique on Abbot Kinney. Handmade locally with an intricate crochet piece in the centre and strips of raw fabric hanging down, it fit in with the bohemian California vibe that is especially prevalent in Venice Beach and made such a simple and stunning statement. Emily brought it home with her as a token of the trip, and I continued to think about it and how well it would fit in with the aesthetic of Bicyclette, especially for our often bohemian inspired spring collection.
I remember having dreamcatchers hanging above my bed as a child, and curious as to where the tradition started, we did a little research into the origin of these beautiful handmade pieces:
"A Native American tradition intended to protect individuals from negative dreams. The positive dreams slip through the center and slide down the feathers and the negative dreams are caught it the web. The negative dream then expires when the first ray of sunlight hits the dream catcher."
And thus, the idea of taking on a little DIY dreamcatcher project was born, and Emily, Ana and I gathered the supplies and spent an afternoon crafting away at the shop a few weeks ago. A simple project with so much potential for customization, we decided it would be fun to share our process with you, so here you go: DIY dreamcatchers 101!
What You'll Need //
- Crochet doilies. Ana's mom was lucky enough to give us some from her collection, hand-crocheted by her great grandmother, no less!
- Embroidery hoops. We got ours from Michaels
- Ribbon, lace and/or fabric. This is where you can get creative with your textures and colour palette. We had a lot of supplies left over from other projects, and also picked up some special ribbon from Mokuba
- Fabric to wrap the hoop with. We used lace Ikea curtains we had lying around and really liked the subtle texture it gave, but you could really use anything
- Scissors
- Glue gun
- Any other trimmings you might want to add. We decided on these gold arrows from The Paper Place
1 // Cut the fabric/lace curtain into strips. Secure the end to the hoop with the glue gun. Wrap the hoop with the fabric, making sure it's tight and wrapped uniformly the whole way around. Use as many strips as needed to cover the entire hoop.
2 // Find a crochet doily that fits the width of the hoop and lay it out to position it. Attach the the doily to the hoop with the glue gun, pulling it so it's taut. Trim any pieces that hang over the side.
3 // Choose the selection of ribbons you want to use and cut them to the desired lengths. It's up to you how long you want these pieces to be, depending on the size of the hoop and where it will be hung. Tie each ribbon around the bottom edge of the hoop, starting at the centre and working your way out.
4 // To attach the arrows, punch a hole at the top and feed a small piece of ribbon through, from the front to the back. Make a knot at the back so it'll hold the arrow in place.
And you're finished! Find a spot on the wall above your bed (or anywhere, really), and let the dreamcatching begin. In the shop, we hung our DIY dreamcatchers above our racks, using a few different sizes in each arrangement for a really pretty effect.
