Easiest Way to Calculate Macrame Cord Lengths

How long to cut macrame cord lengths is one of the most frequently asked questions in macrame. To be quite frank, this isn’t a simple question to answer. However, I really wanted to come up with the easiest way to explain to you how to calculate your lengths, and here it is. I hope you find it helpful.

If you are someone who prefers video tutorials over blogs, then click on the thumbnail and you’ll be taken to the youtube tutorial.

STEP 1: MAKE SAMPLES

First I made these macrame samples to show the coverage when 50% of the surface is knotted (the two on the left) and when 100% is knotted (the two on the right). I used these samples to figure out how much cord length is required for the two most common knots, the square knot and the double half hitch knot.

These samples above are the basis for the calculations I’m going to teach you. These samples were made with 4mm single strand macrame cord. All the samples were made with the same initial cord length which was 50cm. I did this so me and you could easily see the differences visually and to standardize the calculation so it would be a little easier to understand. We all make our knots a little differently, you may make yours tighter or looser than mine. Therefore, I highly recommend doing this exercise for yourself to get the most accurate calculations for your projects.

STEP 2 - CALCULATE THE MULTIPLIER

The first thing you need to do is figure out (what I refer to as) the multipler. This is the first and most crucial step for calculating your cord lengths. Let’s start with calculating the multiplier for covering the entire surface with square knots (no spaces).

SQUARE KNOT

The starting lengths of all the cords was 50cm long. I knotted until there was 7 cm of cord left unknotted. Keep in mind not all of the cords will finish at the same length, so I use the shortest cord length for the calculation. To calculate the multiplier, take the starting length of cord, which was 50cm, subtract the amount of cord not knotted, which is 7cm and then divide that number by the length of the knotted section, which is 14. And you get 3.1

MULTIPLIER FORMULA:

(starting length of cord - amount of cord not knotted) / length of knotted area = multipler

(50-7)/14=3.1

DOUBLE HALF HITCH KNOT

I’ll show you the multiplier calculation for 100% of the knotted area covered in double half hitch knots.

Starting length of cord = 50cm

Length of cord not knotted = 6cm

Length of knotted area = 7cm

(50-6)/7=6.3

The multipiers I calculated for 50% coverage:

Square knot = 2.3

Double Half Hitch Knot = 4.3

STEP 3: CALCULATION OF CORD LENGTHS FOR YOUR PROJECT

For this calculation I’m going to use an example of making a wall hanging completely covered in double half hitch knots. I calculated the multiplier for full coverage with double half hitch knots to be 6.3

For this example let’s say we were going have a length of 10 cm completely covered in double half hitch knots. We take the 10cm and multiply it by the multiplier number which is 6.3. We get 63cm. Then we add to the number the length of our fringe, which is 10cm, and we get 73cm. Now, remember that we typically attach our cords to a dowel or a hoop or something! Which means we have to double the length, so we multiply by 2. 73x2=146.

We could stop there, however, I like to add cord length for the lark’s head knot, because it takes cord length to attach to your dowel. In this instance the lark’s head knot used 12cm, which isn’t much. BUT, if you had a really thick dowel it could be significantly more. I also like to add a little extra cord for good measure. In this example I did 10cm. For a larger wall hanging I would do anything from 20cm to 50cm! To the 146 we add 12cm for the lark’s head knot and 10cm for good measure and the final number for the cut lengths is 168cm.

CORD LENGTH FORMULA:

((Length of knotted area x multiplier) + fringe length) x 2

Consider adding to number some cord length for the lark’s head knot + a little extra for good measure.

Therefore the calculation for this example is ((10x6.3)+10)x2=146

Plus lark’s head knot and a bit extra 146+12+10 = 168cm cut length per cord

I hope this explanation makes sense to you. You can do this for any combination of double half hitch and square knots, and estimate for other knots. For example, the spiral knot takes the same amount of length as the square knot. If you have a mix of knots you need to use an average of the multipliers. Here is an example of this, if you did a wall hanging with 50% knotted coverage, half square knots and half double half hitch knots, you would calculate the average of the mulitipliers. (2.3+4.3)/2=3.3

Here is an example, if you did a wall hanging with 50% knotted coverage, half square knots and half double half hitch knots, you would calculate the average of the mulitipliers. (2.3+4.3)/2=3.3 and then do the calculation the same way we did above.

OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER:

Like I mentioned earlier we all make our knots slightly different. Mine may be tighter or looser than yours. You can absolutely use my numbers, however, if you want even more accuracy then I suggest you make samples for yourself and calculate your own multipliers. ALSO, different cord thickness use different amounts of cord lengths. For this practice I used 4mm cord. If I used thicker cord, 5mm or 6mm, I would need more length as thicker cord takes more cord length. Vice versa thinner cord takes less length.

I really hope I’ve explained this in a way that makes sense. If I didn’t feel free to ask me questions, or watch the video tutorial, maybe I did a better job there. It’s linked at the top of this blog post.

Happy macrame’ing!