Make your own Dream Catchers

dream_catcherNative Americans believe that the night is filled with bad and good dreams. The dream catcher should be hung over the bed swaying freely in the air. The dream catcher is supposed to catch the dreams as they flow by. The good dreams can pass through the dream catcher, slipping through the outer holes and slide down the soft feathers so softly that many times the sleeper does not know that they are dreaming. The bad dreams don’t know the way and get tangled in the dream catcher and disappear with the morning light.

Things you need:
1 – Gold Metal Craft Ring (any size you prefer)
Suede Lace (color of your choice)
1 – Clothespin
Artificial Sinew
Beads and Feathers

Things to do:
1. Start by wrapping your gold craft ring (you can actually use anything for the ring of your dream catcher, you can even use grapevine) with the suede lace. Make sure that you leave a little extra at the top and wrap tightly as you go making sure that you do not twist the lace. Once you have wrapped the ring a couple times you can use your clothespin to hold the lace in place so that you don’t have to keep holding it yourself. As you get to the end make sure that you are wrapping tightly, if you don’t then once you tie the ends off the lace will become loose and unravel quickly.
2. Take the clothespins off of your dream catcher and make sure that you haven’t missed any space with the suede lace. Cut your lace off the same length of the piece that you left earlier and tie a double knot tightly. You can then knot the ends of your lace to create a loop so that you can later hang your dream catcher.
3. Cut 9 feet of sinew (3 yards or three arms length apart). You can leave the sinew the way it is or if it is too thick for your liking, find where the sinew naturally separates and pull it apart. To help control your sinew mess, fold a piece of paper and wrap the sinew around it so that it doesn’t get all tangled up as you’re working.
4. Start at the top of your dream catcher and tie the sinew in a double knot in the center, near your hanger. Bring the knot towards the towards the bottom of your dream catcher and cut off any excess. There is no wrong way of doing your sinew when creating a dream catcher, for bigger stitches, start your sinew really wide and for smaller stitches just start your sinew close in. Wrap your sinew around (try to slide it in between the suede lacing because it will hold tighter and you can’t tell it’s in there) the ring and pull your paper through the loop your created. Pull it tightly. It is usually easier to keep the sinew on the paper when you’re doing bigger stitches but you may have to take the sinew off the paper for smaller stitches because it will get in the way and be hard to manage. Continue until you have made it all the way around once. Now go inside the first strand in the middle, pull the sinew through and go back through your strand just like you did the first time. Make sure it’s in the middle and pull it tight. Then continue this all the way around. As you are stitching your dream catcher feel free to place beads in the sinew and continue stitching. Once you reach the end, just thread the sinew and knot off. Cut off any excess.
5. Now it’s time for the fun part!! Play around with different types of feathers and beads to personalize your own dream catcher. You can also add smaller dream catchers onto a larger dream catcher for a more dramatic effect. Once you have embellished your dream catcher you are finished!

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3 Comments

  1. Great video.. I have always wanted to make a dream catcher… Looks like tomorrow is my lucky day!

  2. Thank you for this well done tutorial. It was easy to understand and very clear. Than you for sharing. I am really looking forward to making one. Thanks again.