DIY Hanging Planter Macrame Design

This DIY hanging planter is incredibly simple to make, using only 3 kinds of macrame knots.  I built a wood plant hanger to suspend a flower pot and discovered the hanger that came with the flowers was really ugly.  The black plastic really stuck out against the cream siding on our front porch, and the way the strings were twisted made it so conspicuous.

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This easy hanger using a simple macrame design is my solution.
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This hanger took me about an hour to make.  If you’re new to macrame, I doubt it will take more than two hours including the time to learn the macrame knots.   It cost $8.00 using a coupon and Michaels and is so much nicer than the purchased ones.

Macrame Plant Hanger DIY Tutorial

To make the hanger you will need :

A 50-yard roll of cotton cord – I used this cotton from Michaels 

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I  like working with a cotton cord as it is easier on the hands than the rougher hemp cord.  In Canada, I used this Bead Landing macrame cotton cord from Michaels.
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Before beginning the actual  DIY hanging planter macrame design, let’s start with three quick tutorials on macrame knots.

Macrame Knot Tutorials

The hanger only needs three knots, a square knot, a half square knot, and a noose knot.

Macrame Square Knot

This is the most used of the macrame knots.  If you only learn this one knot, you can create macrame projects.

Starting with four cords, you will work with the two outer cords and wrap them around the two inside anchor cords.

Step 1  – Take the left outside cord and move it to the right, over the two anchor cords.
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Step – 2  Take the right cord wrap it over the newly placed left cord, then push it up through the loop on the opposite side.  Pull snug.
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Now repeat these steps in the opposite direction.

Step – 3  Take the right cord and move it to the left, over the two anchor cords.
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Step – 4  Take the left cord wrap it over the newly placed right cord, then push it up through the loop on the opposite side.  Pull snug.

As you repeat the square knot you will get a smooth series of flat knots.
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The Half Square Knot

The half square knot is exactly that.  You repeat steps 1 and 2 of the square knot, always taking the left cord and placing it over the anchor cords towards the right side.

Step 1 –  Take the left cord and move it to the right, over the two anchor cords.

Step 2 –  Take the right cord wrap it over the newly placed left cord, then push it up through the loop on the opposite side.  Pull snug.

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As you repeat this knot, the knots will twist around the two anchor knots, making twists in the string.

The Noose Knot

Using a singular 1-foot length of rope.  For safety reasons, don’t use a long rope, not ever.

Step 1 – fold the rope into an “S”  shape, so you have a loop at the top and one at the bottom.

Step 2 –  Pinch the three strands together in the middle.

Step 3 – Wrap the longer cord around all the other cords starting at the bottom and working towards the top.  Once you reach the top, pull the end of the cord through the top loop.
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Pull both ends of the rope with equal pressure to tighten the knot.  You will find the two loops tighten until they disappear behind the wraps.  Pull the ends as tight as you can and trim.

Pattern for DIY Macrame Hanger

Cutting the Cord

In order to have four strings of knots, you will need 16 cords.

Cut 8 cords – 16 feet long

Cut 2 cords – 1 foot long for the slip knots.

Cut 1 cord – 4 feet long.

You will have a little bit left.

Starting the Hanger

Fold all 8 cords in half and hang over a coat hanger, a small doorknob, or a chair.   Use whatever you have available as long as you can remove the cords once your hanger is tied.  As it was beautiful outdoors I used the handle for our patio doors and worked in the sunshine.

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Make sure all sixteen cords are neat, even and untangled.  In the above picture, you can see you have 16 cords, forming a loop with 8 over the door knot, and the other half under the doorknob.

Take the four-foot length of cord and tie around the 16 cords with a simple knot.   This makes the loop to hang your planter with, and two short cords to wrap around the looping cords.

Using the short cords, work around the loop tying ten square knots around the 8 anchor cords.

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Once your done tying the ten square knots, you can leave the two ends hanging.   It doesn’t matter how many square knots you use.

Create a noose knot to hold the top portion of the hanger together for suspending. Wrap the noose knot around all the cords including the two short ones left from tying the square knots.
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Four Strings for Hanging

Grab the most adjacent cords, dividing the long cords into four groups.

Working with one group of four cords at a time.   You can see this in the next picture.

Measure 7 inches from the noose knot with a ruler. The two outside cords for tying carry alongside the two anchor cords.

Start the first square knot at the 7-inch mark, then tie two more square knots.
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With a ruler measure down four more inches and complete 12 half square knots, forming a small twist.

I like to have one set of twisting half square knots because it easily allows you to fiddle with the strings after the flowers are hung.

Repeat this on the other three strings for hanging.

Note: After the first string is measured you can use the existing string to judge where your knots should be, it’s faster than measuring with the ruler.

Forming the Pot Holder

The most important part of putting this part together is making sure you work with adjacent strings.  If you don’t you will hang a string of knots crossing over around your pot. (similar to what the plastic version did).

Take two adjacent strings, divide the four outside string off and disregard, work with the remaining four central strings only.  Measure three inches from the last half square knot.

Tie two square knots.
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Repeat this with the other sets strings forming the top of the pot holder.

Separate the cords of the string again. Leave three inches and complete a square knot.

Repeat this with the other sets strings forming the top of the pot holder.

Gather all the strings together making sure they are adjacent and tie closed with a noose knot.

Update:  A reader commented about how to resize the hangar to fit your pot.  The easiest and quickest way is to shorten or lengthen the spaces between the macrame knots that fit around the pot.  The following picture shows the lengths of cord I am referring to.  

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Hang your pot and cut the ties once satisfied with how it looks.

Here is the link to the simple wood hanger I built for the front porch.

When I was really young I use to make suspended coffee tables with lights in them, all kinds of hangers that I sold, macrame friendship bracelets.  It was surprising to me when I saw macrame make a comeback.

Please comment and let me know if you would enjoy more tutorials,  including beading, crossovers etc.

I would love to hear from you.