The Chevron is one of the best-known knots in the world of friendship bracelets, in which thin yarn is used to make bracelets in all sorts of patterns. To turn this into a collar variant, in this tutorial we use paracord type 1 and start the collar with the safe set-up Kosmetik 2.0.

Length of the set-up

In this tutorial, type I paracord will be used. Use the MatchMaker tool to make nice combinations and using the length calculator in the MatchMaker, you can easily calculate how much type 1 cord you will need for your project.

If you want to use micro cord, it is useful to make a sample piece in advance so you know how much cord you will need.

Please note: the calculator in the MatchMaker assumes you are using a buckle. If you are using a 20 mm biothane adapter with rivets from Paracord.eu, calculate the length you need to tie by using neck circumference - 7.5 cm.

Are you using a different adapter? Then measure the length of the adapter as shown below and apply this formula:

Neck circumference - adapter length + 1.5 cm

If you tie the Chevron with 6 colours of paracord type 1, your knotwork will be about 0.8 cm thick and 3.5 cm wide.

These materials are used in the tutorial (for a setup length of 20 cm):

• Colour A: Marine Blue (2.3 m)
• Colour B: Caribbean Blue (2.3 m)
• Colour C: Alpine Green (2.3 m)
• Colour D: Solar Orange (2.6 m)
• Colour E: Golden Copper Glamour (2.3 m)
• Colour F: Ocher Yellow (2.3 m)
• 1x 20 mm BioThane Adapter

How to start the knotting

With macramé projects, the set-up is just as important as with paracord projects. The places where the colours end up in your set-up affect your entire work.

In the drawing below, you can see that six colours are used. Don't panic! The video shows this process step by step.

Colour D is the set-up colour. The other five colours are added this way (and in this order):

• C goes through the loops of D
• A is a reverse cow hitch around colour F
• E goes through the loops of A
• F is a cow hitch knot in the middle
• B goes through the loops F

Reading the pattern

Did the set-up succeed? Great! Now move on to the pattern itself. Reading macramé patterns can take some getting used to, but once you understand the system, you will be able to read any macramé pattern.

The pattern Chevron, literally ‘herringbone’, from this tutorial is a classic pattern where each colour forms an arrow that points downwards while knotting.

Colours are indicated by letters

Unlike with paracord knots, these patterns use letters to indicate the colours. The assignment of the letters is based on the order in which you use the colours as working cords when knotting. You lay the first steps of this pattern using A as the working cord and F is the last of the six colours you use as the working cord.

Basic macramé knots

There are 4 basic knots you can use to make almost all friendship bracelet patterns. For this particular pattern, you only need two of these four: the Forward knot and the Backward knot. 

The Forward knot goes from left to right and the Backward knot goes from right to left. Does the arrow in the pattern point to the right? Then you make a Forward knot. When the arrow in the pattern points to the left, you make a Backward knot.

Following colours

The arrows in the circles indicate how to tie the knot, but this can also be deduced from how the colours run. The colour of the circle indicates that this colour is the working cord, so with this colour you tie the knot around the other colour, the filler cord. The other colour you see running to the circle is this filler cord.

Example: See the third circle in row 1. This circle is in colour A, which means the strand of colour A is the working cord. The other colour running to this circle is F, so colour F is the filler cord. Thus, with strand A, a forward knot is made around the strand of colour F.

Video tutorial