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February 09, 2018

Chinese Knotting Cord for Macrame Bracelets

Chinese knotting cord refers to a type of smooth round braided nylon cord that is well suited for making traditional chinese decorative knots or macramé. 


It comes in a wide range of colors and sizes from .5 mm to 4 mm and possibly thicker. The bracelets above range from 1 mm to 3mm in thickness.

Sample of Chinese knotting cord colors in yellow family

Chinese knotting cord has a round shape and silky finish, but holds knots well due to the braided texture of the cord. It comes in a variety of spools sizes (mine are mostly 100 meters) and is very cost effective (it's inexpensive). 

And I know I mentioned it, but to reiterate - there are lots and lots of beautiful colors. For most macrame bracelets, I use 1 mm cord, but it can be fun to experiment with other sizes. 

The cord can also be used for braiding, kumihimo, or as necklace cord for a pendant.  If you have beads with larger holes, it can also be used for stringing with knots between the beads.

In the past, I've made macrame bracelets using C-Lon cord. Chinese knotting cord is new to me, and in all honesty, I've put off using it because I thought it would look cheap. I'm not sure why I thought that - maybe because it looks shiny on the spool?


Now that I've used Chinese knotting cord, I think it looks very elegant. In bracelets, it is definitely more refined than C-Lon or waxed linen, both of which have a more casual feel.

Chinese knotting cord is synthetic and silky, but it also has tooth or grip. Not the waxy kind of grip that wears off, liked waxed linen cord, but a kind that is natural to the weave of the cord.

And if you know how to make them properly, the macrame slide knots that are used on bracelets will actually slide and hold - or at least mine have. When I use C-Lon, they eventually lose their grip and loosen. But with Chinese knotting cord, they stay tight and even more important, the knots don't come untied.

DIY Chinese Knotting Cord Bracelets

That is one more thing that is easy with Chinese knotting cord - securing the cord ends. Rather than weave them in, you can simply burn the ends and tap it with the lighter to flatten it a bit. This will keep the cut end close the sliding knot but gives it enough of a tip that it doesn't slip out. No need for glue, nail polish or any other tricks.

The burnt portion can be discolored on lighter colored cords, but as long as you burn it close to the knot, it is barely noticeable.

I also burn the ends and flatten the cord with pliers if I need to put it through a needle for stringing beads.


All three of these bracelets use Chinese knotting cord. The beaded one on the end is ladder stitch across a base of Chinese knotting cord. It’s pretty tedious to make with all the small size 11 delica beads, but also one of my favorite styles. 

You don't need special scissors to cut Chinese knotting cord. Regular snips or scissors will work just fine.

You can make tassels using Chinese knotting cord but don’t expect the cord to fluff or separate. It doesn’t do that very well. But the tassels are silky and a good way to use up extra bits of cord.

You can see my other macrame bracelets made with C-Lon and handmade center charms at this link.  

There is plenty of Chinese knotting cord available on Amazon at reasonable prices. But, make sure you don’t buy the ones that say satin rattail. That is a totally different type of cord. It is generally thicker and the strands separate.  (Maybe this is the cord that I thought would look cheap?) This link is to a nice color assortment of knotting cord on Amazon. It is on the thinner side at .08 mm, but I have several rolls this size and it is a barely noticeable difference from the 1 mm that I typically use. Sometimes you need the smaller diameter cord to fit into the center link jump rings.

If you are looking for crystal links for the center of the bracelets like mine, you can also find them on Amazon. I buy them from a seller/company called Panda Hall or Benecreat. I find the quality to be very good and they maintain their color and shine, even though I wear the bracelets non-stop including showering in them.




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