I Doubled a Simple Zigzag Bracelet Pattern… and Got THIS! | Pattern 5419

What happens if you take a simple zigzag friendship bracelet pattern and make it twice as wide?

I figured I’d get some diamonds. What I DIDN’T expect was that figure-eight shape running right through the middle!

For this design experiment, I started with pattern #5419 from Friendship-Bracelets.net. It’s a relatively simple zigzag pattern, but instead of making it normally, I doubled the width and mirrored the design across the center of the bracelet.

As I worked through the pattern in GIMP, some really interesting things started happening. The large diamonds were expected, but the smaller diamonds, figure-eight shapes, and symmetry through the center definitely weren’t.

Even better, I discovered that some of the strings can trade places along the way. That could be extremely useful because one of the biggest concerns with this design is how far some individual strings travel. Being able to swap a heavily used string with a shorter path could make the finished friendship bracelet much more practical to knot.

This is exactly why I enjoy experimenting with existing bracelet patterns. Sometimes an idea sounds almost silly — like doubling a basic zigzag — but changing one simple thing can create a completely different design.

Now I have to actually make it!

I’ll be back with the finished bracelet and everything I learn while knotting it, including whether those long string paths cause any problems.

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Well…this friendship bracelet experiment didn’t go quite as planned. 😂

I started with pattern #5419 from Friendship-Bracelets.net, an asymmetrical zigzag pattern that I doubled and mirrored down the middle. That transformation turned the original zigzags into a series of diamonds — and something interesting happened along the way.

The original pattern isn’t symmetrical, but adding that extra center row when I doubled it actually balanced the design. The result has four light-colored knots inside the center diamonds versus three along the outside, creating a surprisingly symmetrical friendship bracelet pattern.

Everything seemed to be going great.

I made the bracelet during a livestream, and although it seemed to be coming together pretty quickly, I figured that was because the pattern was relatively straightforward.

Then I finished the braids, pulled the bracelet out from under the clip and…

Why is it so short?!

After a little investigating, I discovered the problem: I had accidentally designed the bracelet using one of my templates intended for DOUBLE-THICK strings. 🤦‍♂️

Since thicker strings require fewer rows to reach the same finished bracelet length, my single-strand version ended up considerably shorter than intended.

Oops.

The good news is that it still turned into a really nice little red and pink friendship bracelet. It took around 1 hour and 25 minutes to knot, and now I have a smaller bracelet ready for the next kid who comes to one of our events and needs something that actually fits their wrist.

There’s also something to keep in mind if you make this design yourself: the red strings get used more heavily than the pink strings. There are places where the working strings can switch along the edges, which helps balance things somewhat, but I’d still give the darker color a little extra length.

Overall, I really like how this doubled zigzag experiment turned out. It’s not quite a beginner friendship bracelet because of all the direction changes, but once you understand the knots, the pattern itself isn’t terribly difficult to follow.

A huge thank you to my YouTube Members for helping make these tutorials and experiments possible — including, apparently, experiments involving the wrong template. 😂 Your support pays for embroidery floss, equipment, and everything else that keeps these videos going.

So now I need your opinion:

Should I make pattern #5419 AGAIN using the correct full-length template?

Let me know in the comments!

For more friendship bracelet tutorials, patterns, graph paper, knotting tips, and DIY jewelry projects, visit akaawol.com.

And as always…

Don’t get your strings in a bunch!

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