Mostly Knitting Blog

The starburst bracelet is probably the first complicated looking bracelet that most people try when learning to use a Rainbow Loom so I decided to give it a go and make Charlie a couple of them. He’s only five years old, so anything more complicated than a triple single is usually up to me.

I used the following video to learn to make my bracelets and would add the following tips:

1. When adding the bands for the starburst patterns, push the way down on the pegs as you go
2. Keep them in order. It will make hooking the bands so much easier.
3. Use a contrasting colour for the capping bands on the starbursts at least the first time you make the pattern. It will help you keep track of where the capping band lies as you work.

Despite it’s complicated look, I found this design is very easy to work and memorise and it’s already become a favourite of Charlie’s and mine.

I hope you’re enjoying my series of Rainbow Loom posts and that it’s saving you a lot of time having to go through youtube videos to find the best ones! Don’t forget to sign up to be notified of future blog posts if you’re interested in more. Next time I’ll be posting a photo tutorial of my own as well as some videos on adding large charms, Loomey Time watches and button closures.

As you can see, Charlie lost the “what are we going to make next” stakes and I made myself a beaded ladder bracelet 🙂

The ladder, or railway track bracelet is made in the same way as the triple single bracelets Charlie and I made in a previous post but, just to make sure, I checked out this video first.

I made mine with ladders on every second set of posts because my beads were too large to put them on every post, which meant I also needed to make it longer to get in a full rainbow. I worked out how to do it myself but this excellent video from Craft Life shows how to make a triple single bracelet longer even if you only have one loom. Variations of this technique work well with many different styles of bracelet. If you’re an adult, don’t be put off by the presenter’s young age, she’s an excellent teacher.

Now I guess I had better go and make that red Angry Bird charm or Charlie isn’t going to be very happy with me…

My rainbow loom arrived at last! Next time there’s a rainbow loom “drought” in Australia I’m just going to wait for shops to get stock in. Back ordering mine was a bit of a disaster since the shop didn’t keep customers up to date with the ever changing delivery times. But it’s here now (and Charlie has stopped asking how many sleeps until it arrives) and that’s all that counts.

Charlie and I decided to start off with an easy style of bracelet since he likes stripes and I like to stop my brain from melting and leaking out my ears. We (and by “we” I mean “Charlie”) chose the triple single bracelet.

From left to right the photo above shows: a bracelet that Charlie (age 5) put on the loom himself. I finished it off for him but he really enjoys making the patterns with the bands on the loom. In the centre is a bracelet I made with two bands held together for the stripes,  and finally a bracelet with single bands in the stripes.

I used the following video, which takes you step by step through the process with clear and thorough instruction for both weaving the decorative part of the bracelet and making it longer for different sized wrists.

Charlie and I disagree with what to make next. I want to make myself a beaded bracelet but he wants me to make him a red Angry Bird charm. So I guess I’ll be doing both!

Don’t worry if you come here for free knitting patterns and other vintage crafts though. Knitting-and.com hasn’t turned into the all singing, all dancing rainbow loom show just yet. At the moment my partner is working on scanning book four of the Good Needlework Gift Book series, and I have some vintage knitting patterns ready to type up, which I’ll release one at a time over the next couple of, um, years (there are hundreds of them). I’m also still working on translating my vintage Latvian knitting book from 1956, which is going extremely well considering I don’t speak any Latvian!