Large-Scale Braided Wall Hanging DIY

I’ve been wanting a new all-white wall tapestry in our living room for a while now. I knew that for the scale I wanted (it’s huge!) that it would be pretty time consuming.

Today, I’m partnering with JOANN to teach you to make this large, but totally doable wall hanging for your home. It’s easier than it looks! If you can braid, you can make this! And what I love most is that there are endless ways to customize it to make it your own!

Supplies needed: I want to teach you how to make exactly what I made, but also leave room for you to customize it. Feel free to add colors and make it your own, or copy mine exactly (that’s what it’s there for!).

Lots of yarn! I purchased nine new bundles and used five of them completely. I also used a bit of yarn I had left over from a previous project. For a very large wall hanging, I would say you need at least five skeins of yarn. You can, of course, choose any yarn that fits the look you are going for, but here’s what I used. Premiere Yarn Couture Jazz Multis Yarn, Bernat Roving, Lion-Brand Wool-Ease Yarn and Big Twist Natural Blend Yarn. There’s also one piece of fringe trim in there that I stole from my stash of old supplies (there are tons of options for trim at JOANN that you can mix and match into your project!).

My wood rod is 54 inches across (just over 4 feet). We purchased it at a hardware store. This is very large, but if you are making a smaller one, you’ll be able to find what you need at JOANN as well!

Step 1: First, I mocked up how large I wanted the longest braid to be. Remember to make the pieces longer since braiding will shorten each piece.

Step 2: Here’s my hack for braiding really long pieces of yarn. I tie the ends into bundles so they don’t get tangled.

Step 3: Braid, braid, braid. Then keep braiding.

Step 4: Lay out your progress as you go. This photo was taken after just one podcast (like 45 minutes), so the first part went pretty quickly.

Keep adding until you are happy!

Step 5: I wanted more than just braids, so I added some wrapped sections. I didn’t have anything bulky to wrap, so I folded up some scrap felt to add bunk under my wrapped braids. This part was considerably more time consuming than the braids, but I love the variety it adds!

Step 6: Once you have plenty of pieces, secure them to the top of the rod. The first side is easier because you don’t have to measure. Just wrap the ends around the back and tie them up with a long piece of bulky yarn.

For the second side, you’ll want to measure each piece to make sure it’s falling like an upside down rainbow. Having it laid out of a big table or floor is easiest.

I thought I was done at this point, but when I hung it up, I wasn’t happy with the scale of the piece. I had two options: Add way more braids hanging lower (which could make the top feel squished) or add a fringe section.

I decided to add fringe to the bottom. This little sketch made me feel good about how long the fringe needed to be. I used two whole packages of Bernat Roving to make the fringe. It took several hours, but it was worth it.

Step 7-8: I found it easiest to cut a bunch of pieces, then add a bunch in sections. It took me quite a white to get it as full as I wanted. Each piece is secured with a simple knot.

In all, I spent around 5-6 hours making this piece. It’s very large though, and to do almost any other kind of wall hanging on this scale would take much longer. So overall I was very happy with the time spent and I am SO happy with the outcome. It’s exactly what this room was needing!