Homemade God’s Knot (Cord of Three Strands)
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When planning my daughter’s outdoor wedding, we were a little hesitant to plan a unity candle ceremony for fear it might be a windy day and it would be impossible to keep the candles lit. We debated on some other options, including an idea of pouring sand into containers that we seemed to keep seeing everywhere. We finally settled on another option that we heard about that was the braiding together of three cords.
The most popular version of this is the God’s Knot. You can see an example on the God’s Knot Website. This is based on a verse in the Bible (Ecclesiastes 4:12 to be exact) which says, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” We really liked this verse and the promise and symbolism it contained and decided to use it in the wedding ceremony.
When we looked a little closer at the God’s Knot that was for sale, we agreed it was very attractive, but it was basically and ring and three cords. Maybe . . . we could make our own! And that’s just what we did using three drapery cords and a D-ring.
At the time we made this in 2011 we were able to buy the three drapery cords shown in the photo above at Hobby Lobby, but those same cords are no longer available there. However something like these Curtain Tieback Ropes on Amazon are a type that could be used, and you might be able to find something similar in other stores too.
Then it’s just a matter of attaching your three cords to a ring. We used a D-ring because those are often easy to find in fabric or craft stores, but other types of rings could work too. Drapery cords usually have some kind of loop on each end. Our cords had wire loops.
We bent the loop on one end around the D-ring and then hand sewed a few stitches to hold it in place. We snipped off the wire loop on the other end. We repeated this with the other two cords.
And that’s all there was to it! It worked perfectly and saved us money too. Here’s the final result in use at the wedding. We used a white hair elastic to wrap around the end when they were done braiding. So if you can find some drapery cords or other thick cords to your liking, just find a way to attach them to a ring and you can make your own God’s Knot too!
We also saved money and made our own wedding veil – – > Sew your own $5 Bridal Veil Tutorial
I love the three-cord strand. I want to share with you my anniversary gift-giving for couples at my Church. I use a macrame cord, an “O” ring, and a stained, narrow wooden kitchen cheese/cutting board. I can tell you how I assemble the items I you are interested. It is my designer gift, and I am cautious about sharing.
There is no reason to cut the drapery cord whatsoever, Simply open the D ring at the joint.
You are so right. I wondered why she wasted time cutting the loop apart. So simple to just open the “D” ring.
Just got three 18″ cords & a D Ring from Hobby Lobby for less than $5
I love it, so I bought the materials. I wanted the actual purple but I couldn’t find it so I pick a peacock color to represent the groom. I also could find a decent size D ring so I bought a Darice gold ring, it’s about the size of a bandle bracelet. I also found some cute items to make it more stylish. I can’t wait to incorporate this beautiful ceremony into our wedding. I want God to be included into this because He is the one who made it possible.
I’m sure your Cord of 3 Strands will turn out beautiful!
Beverly,
Do you know how wide these drapery cords are?
I managed to find one cord at Joanns and its 3/8.
Thanks!
I measured one of the cords I still have and it is closer to 1/2″ than 3/8″.
I just wanted to let you know, I bought those exact cords at Hobby Lobby today in the same colors. They also had black, and dark brown. (:
please inform me of where you got the cords from, I am getting ready to start a marriage ministry at church and I am thinking of getting cords of strands for the women in the ministry that are married
I started doing some searching to reply to your question and have come to the conclusion that Hobby Lobby must no longer carry the drapery cord product I used. The brand I used is “Wrights” and here is a link directly to their site where it looks like it can still be ordered although I don’t know what color selections may still be available. http://www.simplicity.com/p-4201-allison-26-twisted-tieback.aspx?VariantID=10816 I have updated the instructions above to show this as well.
would you be able to make me one for one day shipping?
I have been wanting to do this but on a tight budget. Thank you so much for sharing this!
thanks so much! this is great!
i found the same type of cords at Bed, Bath and Beyond, since there’s no Hobby Lobby near me, and they were $3 each.
I wanted a dark blue, but not sure if i have time to dye, but it’s nice to know that that is possible!
i think i might get a metal ring that opens, to avoid the sewing and wire-cutting. we’ll see how it goes!
Have had this page saved for months now! Ready to go buy supplies and make this for my June wedding. Thank you for the detailed list of stuff and tutorial. Appreciate it!
I hope you’re able to find all the supplies you need and that you have a beautiful June wedding!
Thank you SO much! Your daughter’s wedding looked beautiful.. I am definitely doing this for mine on 10/13/13. Do you have the words that the preacher said by any chance? That is, how he introduced/explained the ceremony… I’m assuming he also used the verse. Thank you!
Brooke
Sorry, I don’t have any of the words the preacher used. If you provide the verse, most preachers can do a great job of coming up with some thoughtful and appropriate words on the subject.
Am getting married on friday 12/7/12, and by looking at this site…i end up making my own god’s knot myself..my colors are red n orange so what i did i got red n white and it was impossible to find an orange colot so i bought another white and dyed the white in orange dye and it came out fine.
I like the idea of dying a white cord to make the color you need. Thanks for sharing that idea!
hello there,
My fiance and I are trying to do the same thing you did but with lime green. What kind of dye worked for you? Thanks much!
I’m not sure what others have used to dye the cords, but I would wonder if the Rit brand of dye would work. People have used Rit dye to color all sorts of things over the years, so it would certainly be a good place to start. I think it comes in a pretty wide variety of colors too.
Hello Bev
I am getting married on 12/12/12. I love the idea of adding God to our ceremony. When I seen Gods Knot I wanted it. However to have it shipped to our location would have costed over $50. I took your advice and made mine for $11.37. Thank-you so much for the complete detailed way of how to do this. I love mine.
In Christ’s Love, Amylynn
That’s wonderful Amylynn! And I love your wedding date of 12/12/12 🙂
This is exactly what I was looking for (did not want to pay the $40 + dollars for everything!
With all the costs involved in a wedding it’s nice to be able to save money where you can. Glad you found these instructions helpful!
My wedding is November 10th. I fell in LOVE with this went to hobby lobby today and found my exact wedding colors eggplant, gold, and champaign..cant wait hope it works! really dont feel like spending 40$ cause im paying for my wedding myself! Thanks for the tutorial was a BIG help 🙂
Best wishes for your wedding day! That’s great you found the colors you needed – and you’re saving money too 🙂
Thank you so much for this article, I can't wait to try this! I was thinking 40.00 was a bit too much to pay and I really wanted to use a color other than purple. However, I love the concept. You have made me a VERY happy bride-to-be!
Once you have the supplies you can make this project very quickly. Hopefully you will have time to make it before your wedding. Best wishes to you!
Thank you so much for the DIY! I saw God's Knot while,looking for wedding ideas and fell in love withbeauty and meaning of it. Im getting married Saturday June 23, 2012 and didnt have time to order it but prefer handmade anyway!!
This is perfect! Thanks!
We felt that the color symbolism was not that important either and it was really the act of braiding with the reading of the verse that was more powerful. I also tried this first with rope from the fabric store and the ends fray like mad! The drapery cords with finished ends worked soooo much better.
Nice!!! We also are having an outdoor ceremony and didn't want to take a chance with the unity candle, so we wanted to do the "God's Knot" but they cost $30-$40 and we thought that was insane. I wanted to make our own, but finding PURPLE rope, even at craft stores, is almost impossible. I like the idea of just picking three other colors; you'd have to skip the reading of the color symbolism, but in the end, is that really that important? Thanks for giving us this idea!
Oh that is beautiful and powerful! Thanks for sharing.