I’ve always loved dreamcatchers. There is something so mystical and magical about them that just appeals to me on a fundamental level. Dreamcatchers have been around in Native American culture for over a century and there are two legends that explain where they came from. One legend is from the Ojibwe people and the other from the Lakota. Click here to learn more about the legends, or just keep reading for a summary.
They believe that night is full of both good and bad dreams. When a dream catcher is hung above the place where you sleep it moves freely in the night air and catches the dreams as they drift by. The good dreams, knowing their way, pass through the opening in the center of the webbing while the bad dreams, not knowing the way, are caught in the webbing and destroyed at the first light of the morning sun.
The dreamcatchers I made are in no way authentic or in keeping with the traditional method of making dreamcatchers. But, I still believe that they can serve the same purpose of catching bad dreams. Why not? Plus they are pretty and Pretty Matters!
I got the inspiration for my {Dream}Catcher Art from Pinterest of course! This pin will take you to a fabulous post where she gives you a great tutorial on how to make a dreamcatcher like hers.
Me? I’m not so great with tutorials. I get caught up in the actual creating part of making a craft that I forget to stop and take pictures along the way!
She used doilies like I did, but there are quite a few differences too. Instead of metal macrame rings wrapped in fabric, I just used embroidery hoops and left the plain wood showing.
There are a ton of beautiful ideas for making your own dreamcatchers on Pinterest. Come see all the examples I have collected on my Windchimes and Dreamcatchers board.
The blog where these beautiful dreamcatchers
lives is called My Pinterventures. Go by and check it out, there is so much more crafty goodness there!
After I got the doilies secured to the embroidery hoops, I laid them out in a design I thought would work under a piece of driftwood salvaged from the shore of my parents lake house.
Like I said, I used doilies for my {Dream}catcher Art. I gathered most of these vintage beauties over the course of about a year from thrift stores, garage sales and vintage consignment stores. After I collected quite a few my Mom said “Oh I have a bunch of these that belonged to your grandmother. Do you want them?” HECK YEAH!! I want anything that is old-loved-worn-vintage-antique AND if it belonged to my grandmother, Bonus!! Major score! I took the easy way of securing them to the embroidery hoops (also purchased at thrift store and garage sales). I opened up the hoop, stretched the doily across and closed it up by attaching the other piece. Some of them fit perfectly in the hoops, others hang out of the edges. I like the random look though! Clear as mud right? Again…..should have stopped to take pictures in progress.
Then it was time to work on the long tails. I have a ton of ribbon but not a lot in the neutral color scheme I was going for. Instead I used fabric strips. All of the fabric started out life as tablecloths, placemats, or curtains purchased from (you guessed it, thrift stores and garage sales) I cut the strips in widths ranging from 1/2″ to 2″. I attached them to the dreamcatchers by tying them in a knot through the spaces in the doilies.
To finish off the project I dolled up the piece of driftwood with a white paint wash over the word Dream cut into a stencil with my Cameo. You can also see that I had to alter the placement of the doilies a bit from my original design.
If you have any questions about my process of making {Dream}catcher Art, comment here or send me an email!
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Thanks so much for featuring my tutorial. I love doily dreamcatchers and I’m so glad to see that you didn’t cut them like I’ve seen in so many tutorials that mount them in embroidery hoops. Your dreamcatcher wall art turned out gorgeous.