Rainbows, in many different forms, are everywhere at the moment and I’m certainly not complaining. Although, if you’ve been around here a while. you also won’t be surprised that I like my rainbows on the pink and grey side of things 🙂 This rope rainbow DIY started out as a project for Bubs’ little room, but now that it’s done it has actually earned a spot in the main living area. Even though we repainted over a year ago, our walls are still so bare, so here’s to hoping that this first gorgeous piece of wall decor can be the start of an ever productive styling time!
If you love this rope rainbow trend, you absolutely have to check out Mandi Smethells. I would be happy to call her the Rainbow Queen. Seriously, she’s brilliant! So much inspiration for gorgeous shapes! Now that I’ve figured out a technique with the standard rainbow, I’m definitely going to try play around with some other pieces. Her work is available straight from her Etsy store.
I’ll be totally honest and say that this is not the quickest DIY. It’s not particularly difficult, but wrapping just takes time. Fortunately, it is something that you can work on a bit at a time while watching Netflix. There are little tricks to make it go quicker too, but if DIY is not your thing, I wouldn’t put this at the top of your list. I loved making it and don’t want to put you off, I’m just being honest. I probably worked on it a bit each day for 5 days, so it’s really not that bad. DIY’ing gives you so much room to play with amazing textures and colours and I love the feeling of seeing things I’ve made myself up in our home.
If you’re not up for the DIY, there are also some local South African brands that stock very similar gorgeous rainbows too. You can find them here and here (available as first come first served). I haven’t seen either in person, but considering the work that goes into it, the prices are really good!
Let’s get down to it. Have fun, be creative. I’d love to see what you come up with! #puresweetjoyblog
Rope Rainbow DIY Wall Hanging
What you need:
Thick rope, about 15mm (5/8 inch) wide. (The length will depend on your rainbow’s size. You can always lay it out roughly in the shop, before buying. I used about 3,5 meters for 7 rope rainbow layers)
Thread or yarn, in a variety of colours, for wrapping (Thicker threads or wool will be much quicker to wrap, but I like the thin thread look and I’m a firm believer in using what you’ve got rather than always buying more and more supplies). You can really go wild here by trying different textures, colours, thicknesses or even adding some metallic yarn.
Wire, strong enough to hold a shape, but easy enough to bend with your hands.
Cotton, for sewing the layers together
Normal straight needle, large enough for the thread used to wrap your rope.
Curved upholstery needle
Scissors
Wire cutting pliers
Tape
Ribbon, for hanging
What to do:
1. Start by laying out the rope in your rainbow shape. Cut each piece and tape up the end to keep it from unravelling. Remember to leave enough extra rope for the fringe.
2. Cut a piece of wire and bend it the shape of the rainbow layer. Keep the wire a bit shorter than where you want the rope to be wrapped.
3. Using a clear tape, tape the wire to the rope at either end and in the centre. This tape will get wrapped around and covered and will then be stitched through, so don’t make it too thick.
4. Start wrapping the rope with your thread. Since I’m using a thin thread, I pulled of a long section and doubled it up twice. This meant I was wrapping four pieces of thread at a time, making it MUCH faster.
Start by tying a simple knot around the rope. Lay the extra tail of thread up, on the rope. Wrap your thread around the rope, covering over the tail end.
Keep all wire, knots, stitching and other extras on the back side of your rope rainbow layers.
5. Keep wrapping your thread around the rope, making sure that the front side of the layers is neatly and fully covered. If small bits of rope show through on the back it’s not the end of the world. They can often be covered over at the end, by rubbing the threads a bit.
Once you’ve finished wrapping that colour, tie another knot at the other end. If it doesn’t feel secure, tie another one. Thread the tail pieces through, under the wrapped thread and them trim them off neatly.
With each layer, be sure to line them up when wrapping to try and get the wrapped colours to match up as neatly as possible at the ends.
6. Stitch the layers together, one at a time. A curved upholstery needle makes the job so much easier! Do a back stitch on the back side, at one end of the wrapped rope. Make sure it’s firm. Zigzag back and forth between the new outside layer and the layer before it. Do a back stitch every now and then to keep it all tightly together.
7. Unravel your rope fringe and practice your hairstyling skills, by giving the rainbow a haircut. I really loved the look of the long fringe, but since my inner layer had a short fringe I had to try even it out a bit. Rather than cutting the whole fringe the short length, I chose to cut a slightly messier, layered look. This meant I could blend in the short fringe section with longer pieces.
8. Finally, to hang it up, sew a small strong ribbon or piece of cord onto the back centre of the rainbow, Be sure to sew it on securely. Since the full weight of the rainbow will hang on this ribbon the stitches must go into the actual rope, ideally right through, rather than just pulling on the outer wrapped thread.
I’d love to see your Pure Sweet Joy DIYs. Show me on Instagram using #puresweetjoyblog or email me at deborah [at] puresweetjoy [dot] co.za. Like what you see here? Follow along on Facebook or Bloglovin and subscribe to the newsletter for exclusive access to the latest news and freebies.
Thanukarn Thomas says
This is beautiful, loving it. Thank you for sharing x
Annie says
I was going to make one of these for someone as a baby shower gift but she would like it as a very large wall hanging. Wondering what size your rainbow was. Didn’t know if it would work or be too heavy if I made one about 30 inches wide x 30 inches high.
Deborah says
Making one that large is possible, but it would be a LOT of work. The wrapping takes time and one that big would need much much longer. Good luck!
Alex Fenn says
Hi, can you tell me how much yarn you need for one of the colours?
Thanks
Deborah says
Each rainbow will be completely different, depending on the thickness of your yarn and the size of your rope and rainbow. But, it isn’t that much that you need. One normal ball will be way more than sufficient for most rainbows.
Noemi says
Great tutorial! Thanks so much for sharing!
Özge says
hi, I ‘ve just loved your work, I am writing from Turkey and want to make one for my niece, I was wondering how long the inner ( the shortest) part? so I can get the right size. Thank you
Jessie Kendall-Marks says
Do you have a short video on the backstitch and how to secure each rainbow layer t the next. I imagine this part takes due diligence with many knots and stitches to make it solid and secure?
Deborah says
Hi Jessie. Unfortunately I don’t have a video, but that would be a good idea! Since you are stitching the whole way around each layer, it ends up being quite strong. Knotting it at the end of each piece of thread and then stitching securely was sufficient for mine. Of course if the rope is thicker then one would probably need to tie it more often. I have seen other rainbows where they actually just sew at each end and then through the top/middle, going through all the layers at one time (i.e. from the inside to the outside layer at the left end, then through all layers at the right end and then through all layers at the middle). I’d suggest that you go with your gut for the first two layers, see how well you think it is holding up and then either add in more stitches if needed or save some effort by doing less on the next layers. Enjoy!
Sharleen Graybill says
This is beautiful! Ty for sharing!
Colette says
Hi there! What type of string did you use to wrap around the rope? Thanks!
Deborah says
Hi Collette. I used old yarn that I found at my mom’s house. You can really use anything. Wool works well if you’d like the same sort of texture as mine, otherwise smooth thick thread give a wonderful professional look too.
Lindsay says
Should you start sewing the last 2 (smallest) ropes first and then go from there or start with the first 2 (largest) ropes and work my way down?
Deborah says
Hi Lindsay. I started sewing from the inside out, smallest pieces first. Enjoy!
Melanie says
This is beautiful! How many yards of string did you get?
Deborah says
Hi Melanie. I used roughly 3.5 meters of rope, which is just less than 4 yards.
Sonja says
Hi,
This is so pretty I can’t wait to try it.
Where do you buy the rope and what thickness are you using?
You think I can use different yarns with different thickness or should I use same?
Thank you.
Sonja
Deborah says
You can definitely use different types of yarns! It will give it a lovely textured look. My rope was about 14mm wide, but a little wider would be fine too. You really can make it your own. A mixture of rope width can even work too!
Maria Martins says
Love it!
Can i just ask… how does it look in the back? I want to try but have some doubts about the finishing in the back
😘
Deborah says
Hi Maria. The third picture from the bottom (with the pink ribbon) shows the back. If I didn’t have the ribbon there the back and front would look basically identical. That being said, I was way too pedantic about having the connecting thread (step 6) sewn in invisibly. It’s much easier if you just make sure that it’s sewn in securely. It really doesn’t matter if it can be seen on the back. No-one looks there anyway.
Maria Martins says
Thank youuuu 😘
Sherry says
I have another question about the wire. What is the purpose of the wire? AND is the wire put on each of the colors. At first I saw where you put it on the white one next to the pink but in another picture it shows you doing it again. My wire is pretty thick but still bendable and I don’t see how that is going to make the rainbow maintain it’s shape. Would a wire coat hanger be better?
Deborah says
Hi Sherry. Test out your wire thickness with the first small rainbow layer. If it’s not strong enough then try a thicker wire. I suspect that a coat hanger may be quite difficult to bend into a nice smooth arc. My wire was 1,25mm thick and was on every layer.
Lea Leman says
Great craft, I’m looking forward to making a rainbow once the holidays are over and I get my supplies, I’m heading to New Zealand in a few days and will be keeping my eye out for some of their livel6 fine wool. Thank you.
Deborah says
Oh wow! That would be an amazing memory of your trip too having special wool up on your wall!
Salwa Bachsinar says
Hi! Are the ropes for each layer the same measurement? I am finding it difficult to make the edges even like yours. I have a very long outer edge then gets too small.
Deborah says
Hi Salwa. So excited that you’re making your own rainbow! The rope does tend to stretch out as you are wrapping it. While wrapping I kept lining up the rope to the smaller one to check if it matched. I also had longer pieces of unwrapped towards the outside layers, but you can then just trim them all to the same length. I.e. Match the wrapped parts up as you go and then trim down the extra plain rope.
Hope that helps!
Mary says
THIS IS BEAUTIFUL! Thanks so much for sharing! So my sewing skills aren’t the best and this part looks super tedious … do you think I could just hot glue gun the layers together?
Deborah says
Thank you Mary! You could hot glue it together, but it may not turn out as well. Maybe give it a test run first on two plain pieces of rope? The sewing part does not need to be too tedious though. I was being perfectionist and wanting it to all be hidden, but in reality it’s OK if the stitching on the back is visible and a bit messy!
Anna says
This is gorgeous! I’m almost done making a rainbow for my daughter but would love some clarity on how to sew this together – it would be super helpful to see an image of the completed back of the rainbow. Thanks!
Deborah says
Hi Anna. Well done, I’m sure your daughter will love it! The back of my rainbow looks exactly the same as the front. I was quite pedantic about making my stitches hidden. Looking back, that was not necessary though and probably wasted time! You can see in the photo below step 6 that the stitches holding the first few layers together can’t be seen.
A little more detail on stitching it together: Start from the inside. You’ll sew one new layer on at a time. Using an upholstery needle (curved needle), stitch the first two layers together at the start of where you’ve wrapped them. Instead of doing a backstitch you could also tie a little knot to hold the thread in place. Then take your needle and thread it through a little bit of the thread/rope from each of the two rainbow layers you’re sewing together (as in the photo for step 6). Continue this going from layer one to two, then layer two to one, then layer one to two again etc etc, until you’ve gone the whole way aruond the wrapped part of those two layers. Then do another backstitch or tie another little know to keep it all in place.
Repeat this whole process for each new layer that needs to be sewn on.
I hope that helps!
Xx
Debra says
Lovely work I look forward to making one, thank you for the well explanation of how to do it.
Very kind of you 🙏
Jenna says
What thread did you use?
Deborah says
Hi Jenna. For the wrapping I just used thread that my mom had on her shelves, so I’m not sure exactly what it was. You can use anything you like though, even much thicker wools. For sewing it together I used a normal cotton thread that I’d use on the sewing machine.
Jessie says
Hello, love this tutorial. I don’t suppose you can give some more info on attatching the rope together. I’m finding it very difficult. Thank you ☺️ Xx
Deborah says
Hi Jessie. It is a tricky step and can be quite hard to get the needle to go through. I’ve added some more detail in my reply to Anna (above). I hope it helps!
Becca Groves says
I love this project so, so much. When I first found your tutorial I could barely do anything else before I had my yarn, rope and wire ready to make my own. Thanks so much for posting this. I made a darling little, one-of-a-kind rope rainbow and I’m very pleased. 🙂
Deborah says
Yay! One-of-a-kind crafts are the best!
Rochelle Bews says
Can I ask what thickness of rope you used, and what the finished dimensions are like? I’m not sure what sized rope to get for the piece! Lovely colour scheme -thanks for the tutorial.
Deborah says
Ah, good questions! I thought my rope was 12mm thick, but when I measure the offcut it’s closer to 14mm. Final dimensions are 26cm wide, by 18cm high (excluding the length of the fringe). The beauty of it though is that you can really do it however you’d like. I’d recommend being nice to the shop assistant where you are going to buy your rope and ask them to let you lay it out on the floor to get a rough idea of the size in a rainbow 🙂 It’s also always easy to add another colour at the end if you want to make it a little bit bigger, provided it still fits into your colour scheme.
Enjoy!