Team Spirit Bracelets

Have fun showing your school spirit at your favorite team's next game with these awesome team spirit bracelets!  :)  Anyone can make them. They are inexpensive and a lot of fun to make.  I first learned how to make these bracelets at Girl Scout Camp in fourth grade and still enjoy making them now as a senior in college.  I find making the bracelets to be a relaxing and simple process, take little storage space, and can be transported easily.  A typical adult bracelet will take about two hours to make but if you are making it for a small child it will only take 1 hour.  Sizing is no problem.

My bracelet can be worn by both men and women.  You could sell these Team Spirit Bracelets as a fundraiser for any type of school club.  The profit would be high because the materials are inexpensive.  You can use any color combination and materials are readily available.  They are easy to ship and transport because they are light weight.  Postage fees would be minimal.  These bracelets are fun and easy to make.  

Another use for these bracelets is having elementary teachers use them as a reward program.  Certain colors could signify different achievements.  For example, if a student read 10 chapter books they would earn a blue and green bracelet.  If the student read 20 chapter books then they would earn and red and gold bracelet.  Several bracelets could be worn at the same time, similar to scouting badges.  Teachers could have their classes make these bracelets in art class.  Therefore it would not be any extra work for the teacher.  

My focus today is in making a team spirit bracelet.  In my tutorial I have selected cardinal red and gold because Iowa State University's school colors are cardinal red and gold.  Next football season I will be ready to cheer on the Cyclones with my Team Spirit Bracelet.  Now you too can get ready to show some school spirit!

1.  Spools of embroidery floss can be purchased at Hobby Lobby.  They cost 35 cents each.
2.  Empty cereal box
3.  Scissors
4.  Small Safety Pins, 300 for $3.99 at Hobby Lobby

1.  Cut off front side of cereal box with scissors.

2.  You can start with your cardboard orientated either vertically or horizontally, depending on how long you want to make your bracelet.  For shorter bracelets turn the cardboard horizontally.  For longer bracelets turn the cardboard vertically.  If you are making longer bracelets, the bigger the cereal box the better.

3.  Make a short vertical slit in the top of the box.  Make equally spaced one inch slits along the entire bottom of the piece of cardboard.

1.  Cut at least six equally long strands of embroidery floss at least two feet long, longer if you want a longer bracelet.  Too long is always better than too short because at the end, you can cut off the excess length and reuse it for another bracelet.

2.   Put all your strands of embroidery floss together, side by side, and tie a double knot at one end of the gathering of strands.

3.  Place the knot in the top slit of your piece of cereal box card board.  Pull the strands tightly through the slit so the knot is flush with the back side of the cardboard.

4.  While separating the strands of embroidery floss and alternating the colors, place each strand in an individual slot on the bottom of the card board.  Pull strands tightly through the slots so that they do not give any slack.

 -  Take the first strand out of the bottom left slot and make a number 4 with the strand across the top of the other strands still in their slots.

Push your right index finger underneath the first string still in a slot.

-  Grab the first string you are working with from underneath the second string.  Pull the tail of the first string completely through and to the left.  Now you should have the first string looped around the second string still in its original slot.

Please click through all pictures in order to see all the individual steps.

1.  Put right index finger on the second string to hold it in place while pulling the end of the first string with your left hand, up and to the right.  Pull it all the way to the top of the cardboard.  Now it should look like one knot at the top of the cardboard.  (You can pull as loose or as tight as you want.  I like to design loose bracelets.  You can decide what look you like best.  Avoid pulling too tightly because gaps will form between rows in your bracelet.)

2.  Repeat this process once more with the same two strings to form a second knot on top of the first knot you just tied.

3.  Then do the same process to the next string in the slots at the bottom.  Continue putting two loop knots per string until you get to the last string in the slots.  After putting two knots in this string, you should have a row of the same color knots along the top of your bracelet.  Place this string in the next available empty slot on the right.

4.  Repeat this process again starting with the first string on the left until there are no more slots on the right to put a string in.  When this occurs, move all the strings over to the left but keep the right order when moving them to another slot.  Continue repeating the process of adding rows to the bracelet until the desired bracelet length is obtained.

 1.  When desired bracelet length is obtained, remove bracelet from top and bottom slots.  Tie a knot similar to the starting knot at the top of the bracelet.  Use a safety pin to poke through the large knots to hold the bracelet together.  Cut off excess length of string from ending knots.  Yeah!  Go team go!  You are ready to cheer on your favorite team with your new Team Spirit Bracelets!