How to make a Native American Dreamcatcher?

Richard Thomas
Over 15 years handling, testing, and restoring pocket, fixed-blade, and Damascus steel knives across hunting and everyday-carry disciplines.

In Native American culture, dreamcatchers were believed to catch and trap bad dreams 👻, while allowing good dreams 🌈 to pass through the spider web design 🕷
🕸 and drift down into the heads of the children 👶 sleeping beneath them. They even created “Native American Dreamcatcher” tattoos to protect themselves from them.

Nowadays, dreamcatchers come in many shapes and sizes and are an incredibly popular choice for bedroom decor! If you’re ready for sweet dreams, why not learn how to make a dreamcatcher using the detailed instructions below?

We have put together a fantastic dreamcatcher tutorial that will allow you to create a beautiful piece of interior decor to add the perfect finishing touch to your bedroom! 😍

Tutorial title: How to make a Native American dreamcatcher?
Time required: 5-6 hours
Skill level: Beginner/Intermediate

You will need:

An embroidery hoop or an 18 cm metal ring (you can make one of any size) 💫
6 meters of ribbon or flat leather cord
All kinds of beads in various sizes, shapes, and colors
6 meters + 1 meter of crochet thread or thick cotton thread
A variety of feathers
Sewing thread
Erasable pen or tailor’s chalk ✏️
Hot glue gun 🔫

👉 Native American Dreamcatcher Items

How to make a dreamcatcher yourself – Step-by-step instructions:
Before starting your project, gather all your supplies and quickly read through the instructions 👀 on how to make a Native American dreamcatcher to familiarize yourself with the terminology.

1
How to make a Native American Dreamcatcher? #1: “The Hoop”

2
How to make an Easy Dreamcatcher? #2: “Wrapping the Hoop”

3
How to make a Dreamcatcher? #3: “Finishing the Hoop”

4
How to make a Native American Dreamcatcher? #4: “Winding the Hoop”

5
How to make a Dreamcatcher with feathers? #5: “The Loop”

6
How to make a Traditional Native American Dreamcatcher? #6: “Finishing the Loop”

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How to make an Easy Dreamcatcher? #7: “Weaving a Dreamcatcher – Part 1”

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How to make a Dreamcatcher with beads? #8: “The Beads”

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How to make a Native American Dreamcatcher? #9: “Weaving a Dreamcatcher – Part 2”

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How to make your own Dreamcatcher? #10: “Finishing the Weave”

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How to make a Dreamcatcher? #11: “Adding the feathers”

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How to make a Crochet Dreamcatcher? #12: “Passing the two threads”

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How to make a Dreamcatcher with feathers? #13: “Passing the two repetitive threads”

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How to make a Crochet Dreamcatcher? #14: “Attaching the feathers”

How to make a Native American Dreamcatcher? #1: “The Hoop”

Take your embroidery hoop and, starting from the top, wrap the hoop with the ribbon or flat leather cord 〰️.

Start by applying a small amount of glue to one end of the ribbon using the glue gun 🔫, then glue it onto the hoop – this will save you from having to tie a knot.

How to make an Easy Dreamcatcher? #2: “Wrapping the Hoop”

Going all the way around the hoop, wrap the ribbon so that the hoop 💫 is not visible.

How to make a Dreamcatcher? #3: “Finishing the Hoop”

When you reach the end, covering the mechanism as much as possible, cut the ribbon ✂️〰️ and glue the end in place.

How to make a Native American Dreamcatcher? #4: “Winding the Hoop”

Divide the hoop into 16 equal parts, marking it in half with the air-erasable pen, then in half again to create four quarters. Then, divide (and mark) each quarter into three.

To make winding easier, take the thread and wrap it around your fingers 🤚, slide it off, then wrap it around the middle.

This allows the thread to pass easily through the loops.

Passing through the hoop mechanism, tie a double knot at the top mark and, for extra security 🔰, glue it down.

At the next mark, wrap the thread from the inside over the hoop to the back.

How to make a Dreamcatcher with feathers? #5: “The Loop”

Pass the wound thread through the loop and pull it tight; repeat the process until the end.

Make the last loop/knot over the first one.

For the second layer, weave halfway through the previous layer.

Push the thread ➰ from the front to the back.

How to make a Traditional Native American Dreamcatcher? #6: “Finishing the Loop”

Now put the thread back into the loop you just made.

How to make an Easy Dreamcatcher? #7: “Weaving a Dreamcatcher – Part 1”

Repeat until the end of the second layer.
Weave the third layer in the same way.
Now weave your fourth layer with beads; it’s up to you how many beads you use.
Weave into the middle of the first loop without beads, then thread your beads (I used two!) onto your cotton.
Weave into the middle of the next loop.
Repeat until the end.

How to make a Dreamcatcher with beads? #8: “The Beads”

If you use 2 beads, you will use 32 beads in total.

Weave the fifth layer by weaving into the thread ➰ after the beads of the previous layer, which keeps them securely in place.💪

How to make a Native American Dreamcatcher? #9: “Weaving a Dreamcatcher – Part 2”

Repeat this process until the end of the bead layer.

Weave the sixth layer by working in the center of the fifth layer.

Continue weaving until you can see a small circle in the middle of the hoop.💫

In this project, I did eight more layers.

How to make your own Dreamcatcher? #10: “Finishing the Weave”

Pass the thread ➰ through all the previous loops of the last row using a running stitch.

Then finish your project by tying knots, cutting ✂️, and gluing to secure it.📌

How to make a Dreamcatcher? #11: “Adding the feathers”:

Now, you need to add the feathers and the rest of the beads! I like working with odd numbers, so cut ✂️ five lengths 📏 of thread:

1 x 25 cm
2 x 20 cm
2 x 15 cm

I used the same thread as the webbing, but you can use thread, lace, or ribbon.

Using the longest thread, attach it to the hoop by passing it over the thread by about 2 inches.

Pass the loop from back to front at the bottom of the hoop.

How to make a Crochet Dreamcatcher? #12: “Passing the two threads”

Pass both threads (short and long tails) through the loop and pull tight.👌

How to make a Dreamcatcher with feathers? #13: “Passing the two repetitive threads”

Repeat with the 20 cm thread, leaving a space of about 3 cm on each side of the longest thread.

Finally, repeat with the smallest thread ➰, but double it up.

How to make a Crochet Dreamcatcher? #14: “Attaching the feathers”

Working on one side, thread a bead onto the shorter thread and then attach a feather.

Attach the feather to the thread with sewing thread and a little glue to secure it.📍

Attaching the feathers: Continue until all threads have a bead and a feather on them.

Finally, take about 20 cm of string or weaving thread, fold it in half, and tie it.

Thread this loop through the top of the hoop.

You can now hang your traditional Native American dreamcatcher!

Project finished.

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

You now know how to make a Native American dreamcatcher; why not experiment with different threads, feathers, and beads? You can also try different patterns with the webbing.

Make one for every member of the family 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦, one for every bedroom, or create beautiful personalized dreamcatchers as birthday gifts 🎁
for your friends! 🎈

Do you like this project? Leave us some comments ✍🏼 for a future tutorial!

Sweet dreams.