Free Jewellery Making Tutorial: Purple Kumihimo Braided Bracelet
There is something deeply satisfying about making jewellery by hand. When you braid threads together into a finished piece you can wear, you feel a connection to the craft that no store-bought item can replicate. Kumihimo is one of those techniques that looks far more complicated than it actually is, which makes it one of the most rewarding skills a beginner jewellery maker can learn. Once you understand the basic movements, you will find yourself making bracelet after bracelet, experimenting with colour combinations and adjusting lengths for friends and family.
This free jewellery making tutorial walks you through everything you need to create a beautiful purple kumihimo braided bracelet from scratch. Whether you are completely new to kumihimo or you have tried it once or twice and want a reliable reference guide, this post covers the materials, the setup, the braiding process, and the finishing techniques in detail. By the end, you will have a finished bracelet and the confidence to take your kumihimo skills further.
What Is Kumihimo?
Kumihimo is a traditional Japanese form of braiding that dates back over a thousand years. The word itself roughly translates to “gathered threads” in Japanese, and that description captures the technique perfectly. Threads, cords, or fibres are interlaced in precise, rhythmic patterns to create a braid with a distinctive round or flat profile. Historically, kumihimo was used to make decorative cords for samurai armour, kimono sashes, and ceremonial objects. Today, it has found a global audience among jewellery makers, textile artists, and craft enthusiasts who love its meditative quality and the stunning results it produces.
Modern kumihimo is typically worked on a foam disc called a kumihimo disk, which holds your threads in place and gives you a central hole through which the braid forms. The disk makes the technique accessible to anyone, even children, because it takes away the complexity of holding multiple threads in tension by hand. With the disk doing the structural work, you simply focus on the movement pattern.
Why Purple?
Purple is one of the most beloved colours in jewellery making for good reason. It carries associations with creativity, intuition, and a certain quiet luxury. In a kumihimo bracelet, purple threads catch the light beautifully as they wind around each other, and the finished braid has a depth of colour that looks far richer than a single flat strand ever could. You can go deep and moody with a dark plum or aubergine thread, or keep things fresh and playful with a soft lilac. This tutorial uses a combination of two purple shades alongside a complementary metallic or neutral thread, which gives the finished bracelet a professional, layered look.
That said, once you have learned the technique, swapping the colours is effortless. Everything you learn here applies equally well to any colour palette you choose.
Materials You Will Need
Before you begin, gather all your materials. There is nothing more frustrating than stopping mid-braid to search for something, and with kumihimo specifically, interruptions can lead to losing your place in the pattern.
You will need a round kumihimo disk, which is the standard foam braiding disk with 32 slots around its edge. These are inexpensive and widely available from craft shops and online retailers. You will also need eight bobbins, sometimes called kumihimo bobbins or craft bobbins, to wind your thread onto and keep it tidy as you work. If you do not have bobbins, small clips or even folded pieces of card secured with a rubber band can substitute.
For thread, this bracelet uses S-lon cord (also called nylon beading cord or macrame cord) in two shades of purple. Choose one deeper shade, such as a rich violet or plum, and one lighter or brighter shade, such as amethyst or grape. You will need approximately 60 to 80 centimetres of cord per strand before you cut, though the exact length depends on your wrist size and how long you want the finished bracelet to be. For an average adult wrist bracelet of roughly 18 centimetres in finished length, cutting each strand to around 75 centimetres works well. You will have eight strands in total: four of the darker purple and four of the lighter purple.
You will also need a small amount of a complementary thread if you want to add a third colour or a metallic accent. A single gold, silver, or gunmetal metallic thread woven through the braid adds a beautiful shimmer, though this is entirely optional.
For finishing, you will need two end caps or cord ends in a metal finish of your choice, a lobster claw clasp, two small jump rings, jewellery glue or a small amount of epoxy resin, a pair of flat nose pliers, and a pair of round nose pliers. Choose metal findings in silver or gold tone to complement your purple thread.
Setting Up Your Kumihimo Disk
Setting up correctly is the key to a neat, even braid. Take a moment with this step and the rest of the process flows much more smoothly.
Start by cutting your eight strands of cord. If you are making four strands of dark purple and four strands of light purple, you will cut four lengths of each. Gather all eight strands together and fold them in half so you are holding a bundle with a midpoint. Tie a loose overhand knot at the midpoint of the bundle, then pull the loop that forms through the centre hole of your kumihimo disk from top to bottom. The knot sits on the underside of the disk and acts as an anchor, while your working threads all point upward from the top of the disk.
You now have sixteen thread ends pointing up. These are your sixteen working strands. Wind each one onto a bobbin, leaving a few centimetres of working length loose between the disk and the bobbin. Having too much loose thread tangles easily; having too little makes it hard to braid. A few centimetres is the sweet spot.
Arrange your threads in the slots around the disk. The standard arrangement for a round eight-strand braid places threads at the top, bottom, left, and right positions, with one thread on either side of each of those four positions. Using the numbered or lettered slots on your disk, place threads at positions twelve o’clock, one o’clock, three o’clock, four o’clock, six o’clock, seven o’clock, nine o’clock, and ten o’clock. Effectively, you are placing two threads at the top, two at the bottom, two on the left, and two on the right.
For the purple colour pattern in this tutorial, place one dark and one light purple strand at each of the four compass positions. When the braid forms, the alternating colours twist around each other and create that characteristic swirling, rope-like pattern.
The Basic Round Braid Movement
Kumihimo is built on repetition. Once you understand the movement, it becomes almost meditative, and you will likely find yourself braiding faster with each session. The standard round braid uses a simple top-bottom swap followed by a rotation.
Hold your disk with both hands. Look at the top of the disk. You have two threads near the top. Take the right one of those two threads and move it down to the bottom right slot, just to the right of the bottom threads. Then take the left one of the bottom threads and move it up to the top left slot, just to the left of where the top threads were.
Now rotate the disk a quarter turn clockwise. The threads that were on the right are now at the bottom, and you repeat the same movement: take the right thread from the top two, bring it down to the bottom right, and take the left thread from the bottom two and bring it up to the top left.
Rotate again. Repeat. Rotate. Repeat.
After every four movements, the disk has completed a full rotation and you are back to your starting orientation. You will notice the braid forming below the disk, emerging through the centre hole. Give it a gentle tug every so often to keep the tension even. This is where your bobbins earn their place, providing just enough weight to keep the threads taut without pulling unevenly.
It helps to think of the movement as always working with the top pair: right thread goes down right, left-bottom thread comes up left. The quarter turn then brings a new pair to the top. If you say the steps out loud as you learn — “top right down, bottom left up, turn” — the rhythm establishes itself quickly.
Braiding Your Purple Kumihimo Bracelet
With your disk set up and your movement rehearsed, you are ready to braid. Work slowly at first. Neat, even tension matters more than speed, especially in the first few centimetres where the pattern is establishing itself. The braid can look a little uneven at the very start, but this is normal. Once you have worked about two centimetres, the pattern becomes clearly visible and any slight irregularities from the setup tend to disappear.
Keep checking that your threads are seated properly in their slots. If a thread slips out of its slot, it is easy to put it back before it causes any problems; the further you go without noticing, the harder it is to correct. Similarly, keep your bobbins wound to a consistent working length. If some threads have more slack than others, your braid will not be even.
The purple colour pattern in this bracelet works beautifully because the darker and lighter shades spiral around each other as you braid. You will see two distinct stripes of colour rotating around the braid, with each stripe composed of both shades of purple in close proximity. If you added a metallic strand, it should appear as a thin, gleaming highlight that winds through the purple.
Continue braiding until your braid measures the length you need for the finished bracelet. Because you will be adding end caps and a clasp, subtract roughly two centimetres from your desired finished length. For an 18-centimetre finished bracelet, braid until you have about 16 centimetres of braid. The clasp assembly adds the remaining length.
Finishing the Braid
When you have reached your desired braid length, secure the end of the braid temporarily with a small clip or a piece of masking tape wrapped around all the threads just below the last braided section. This stops the braid from unravelling while you work on the finishing.
Remove the braid from your disk by lifting the threads out of their slots. You will have the braided section in the middle and loose thread ends at both ends. Trim the lower thread ends to about two to three centimetres below the braid. Apply a small amount of jewellery glue or fast-drying epoxy to the cut ends and allow it to partially dry until just tacky.
Now slide an end cap over the thread ends. End caps for kumihimo braids are typically cone-shaped or cylindrical, wide enough at the opening to accommodate the braid. Press the end cap firmly over the thread ends while the glue is still tacky, making sure the opening of the end cap butts up neatly against the end of the braid itself. Wipe away any excess glue. Allow this to dry fully according to the glue manufacturer’s instructions before moving on.
Repeat the process at the other end of the braid, working with the threads that were at the top of your disk.
Once both end caps are firmly attached and fully dry, open a jump ring using your flat nose pliers and round nose pliers — twist the ring sideways rather than pulling it open, as this maintains the round shape. Thread the jump ring through the loop at the top of one end cap and close it. Repeat at the other end.
Attach the lobster claw clasp to one of the jump rings. Your bracelet is now complete.
Tips for a Neater Finish
A few small habits make a noticeable difference to the finished quality of your bracelet. Always cut your threads with sharp scissors rather than craft scissors that have lost their edge. Frayed or slightly crushed cord ends do not sit as neatly inside end caps. If your cord ends fray easily, run a lighter very briefly along the cut end to seal it, though test this on a spare piece of cord first to make sure your cord type responds well to heat.
Keep consistent tension throughout your braiding. If you need to stop mid-braid, secure the working threads in their slots rather than leaving them loose, and store the whole disk in a small bag or flat container so nothing tangles or slips out of position overnight.
Experiment with the tightness of your bobbins. More tension from the bobbins produces a tighter, denser braid. Less tension creates a slightly looser, more flexible braid. Neither is wrong; they simply produce slightly different feels in the finished piece.
Variations to Try Next
Once you are comfortable with the basic round eight-strand braid, there are many directions to explore. You can work with sixteen strands for a thicker, more substantial braid, or switch to flat braiding disks for a different profile. Adding beads to your strands before braiding introduces texture and sparkle, with each bead appearing on the surface of the braid at regular intervals. Metallic threads, silk, leather cord, and waxed cotton all behave slightly differently on the disk and produce distinct textures in the finished braid.
For purple enthusiasts, trying ombre effects by using four or five different shades from very pale lavender to deep plum, and arranging them in order around the disk, produces a braid that gradients beautifully from one end to the other.
A Note on Wearing and Caring for Your Bracelet
S-lon and similar nylon cords are fairly durable and reasonably water-resistant, but it is always good practice to remove jewellery before swimming, bathing, or doing anything that will expose it to prolonged moisture or harsh chemicals. The thread itself may not suffer much, but the metal findings can tarnish or weaken with repeated exposure to water and soap. Stored flat in a jewellery box or small pouch when not being worn, a well-made kumihimo bracelet will last for years.
Final Thoughts
Kumihimo is one of those crafts that gives back generously. The learning curve is gentle, the materials are inexpensive, and the results look impressive far beyond what the effort involved might suggest. A purple kumihimo bracelet is a particularly lovely project because the colour lends itself so well to the swirling, twisting nature of the braid — you can practically see the movement frozen in the finished piece.
Take your time with the setup, stay consistent with your tension, and do not worry if your first attempt is not perfect. Every bracelet teaches you something. By your third or fourth, you will be braiding almost on autopilot, and your mind will already be drifting toward the next colour combination you want to try.
