Shimmering Sun Mandala Macrame Wall Hanging - Darn Good Yarn

Shimmering Sun Mandala Macrame Wall Hanging

by Kate Curry

Written by Kate Curry

Materials:

  • 1 Cake of DGY Sparkle Worsted Weight Reclaimed Silk Yarn 
  • 2 Metal or wooden rings - one larger and one smaller (not included) 
  • Scissors (not included) 
  • Fabric Glue (not included)(optional)
  • Floral wire (not included)(optional)(if you’re making your own rings!)
On a shiny wooden table rests a cake of sparkling yellow worsted weight yarn, a metal circle, a spool of green floral wire, and a pair of wire cutters.

Techniques:

Make your own rings 

You can make your own rings by curling floral wire around a cylinder to create any size or shape of wall hanging you'd like! 

A hand is holding a glass candle that has a few layers of floral wire wrapped around the candle to create a wall hanging.

Pattern

Step One: Cut your yarn. You'll need 31 cords that are 3 yards each (or 105 inches). 

Step Two: Using the smaller ring, fold your cords in half and attach to the ring. 

A hand is looping a strand of shimmering yellow yarn through the small green circle.
A pair of fingers are connecting a strand of yellow yarn onto the center circle using the larks head knot.
A close up of the green inner circle with one strand of yellow yarn attached to the circle with a larks head knot.

Step Three: Once your ring is filled with cords, you’re going to plot out the macrame pattern. Place the smaller ring inside the larger ring so you can see how long you’ll need to knot the yarn for.

The small circle that will go at the center of the wall hanging. The excess yarn has been wound into little skeins to keep the yarn from tangling.

The pattern should look like this: 

  • 2 locks - Spiral knot
  • 1 lock - no knot
  • 1 lock- ½ hitch knot, halfway to the edge of the larger ring
  • 1 lock - no knot
  • And repeat

Go ahead and start working on your different macrame knots. To make it easier for me, I ended up putting my inner circle under the foot of my living room coffee table for leverage while I was knotting. 

The small circle of the wall hanging is placed underneath the wooden foot of a table to keep it still. A hand is holding out a few strands of macrame-braided yarn, showing off the pattern.

When you're all done, the pattern will look like this. 

The small center circle of yarn is placed in the center of the larger metal circle. The yarn has been macrame braided and stretched out.

Step Four: Now that all your yarn is knotted, take each string and loop it around the larger circle twice. I attached the spiral strands first. 

Step Five: Attach the ½ hitches to the larger ring. Spread out the two strands to create sunbeam effects 

The yellow sun wall hanging is laid out on a wooden table. Long strands of golden yellow yarn trails off the table and onto the sandy tan carpet.

Step Six: For the strands with no knots, stretch them out between the ½ hitches and spirals to create some straight sunbeams. 

A close up picture of the mandala wall hanging, showing the yellow strands of yarn stretched tight and knotted onto the metal circle.

Step Seven: Once all your strands are attached to your larger ring and are in the place you desire, tighten the knots. For extra security, I like to add a little bit of fabric glue around the edge. 

Step Eight: Choose which part of the hanging that you want to be the “bottom”, which will have hanging yarn strands, and which part you want to be the “top”.

Step Nine: On the top of the ring, tighten the stands and knot off. Snip the yarn with  a 1-2 inch tail. 

Step Ten: On the bottom of the ring, leave the yarn long and hanging for now. We will trim it later. 

The yellow sun mandala is resting on a wooden coffee table. A hand is holding a few strands of long yellow, glittery yarn.

Step Eleven: Using the excess yarn that you cut from the top, cut 4”-5” inch long strands. Fold in half and attach to the top of the circle in the bare spots to make the top of the ring look nice and full! 

A closeup of the 'top' of the mandala wall hanging'. A hand is holding a handful of strands of bright yellow yarn.

Step Twelve: Once the top is nice and full, fill in the bottom part of the ring with the remainder of the long, uncut yarn to make the bottom full. 

Step Thirteen: Hang your wall hanging and trim the hanging yarn to your desire. Trimming it while it’s hanging will make sure you’re trimming the right amount and shape that you want! I left my tails about 7 inches long 

A hand is holding up a golden sun mandala wall hanging in front of a large set of windows, partially covered by white plastic blinds.

Enjoy your shimmering sun! 

Meet the Author

Profile picture of the author, Kate Curry, wearing a dark red Nanda Poncho sitting on concrete stairs in front of brick wall.

Kate has been on the Darn Good Yarn team since 2018.

They have their degree in Creative Art Therapy & Psychology - and like crafting and animals a little too much.

Back to Darn Good Tutorials

Shop Our Favorites!