Documentation
Documentation
Copyright © 2014-2017 Juliette Monsel. This is a modified version updated in 2026 by Brett Cole.
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
You are using Bracelet Designer Pro (2026, Brett Cole), based on Juliette Monsel’s Bracelet Generator. Launch it from the program folder with Bracelet Designer Pro.exe (no extra terminal window).
Visit Bracelet Generator project page at Sourceforge for the original software.
This software does not aim at teaching you how to make friendship bracelets. It only enables you to create patterns easily. So if you do not know how to make the four types of knots, find a tutorial on the Internet first, for instance friendship-bracelets.net
Launch bracelet-generator-x.y.z.exe and follow the instructions given by the installer (you will need the administrator rights).
First, you need to install a few dependencies if they are missing: python3-pil, python3-tk, ghostscript, zenity (optional). You can use the following command to check whether package is installed:
$ dpkg-query -W package
Then, to install Bracelet Generator run:
$ sudo dpkg -i bracelet-generator-x.y.z_all.deb
Unzip the archive. Move BraceletGenerator.app to the /Applications. To be able to export patterns in .png or .jpg, you need to install Ghostscript. It can be done with brew:
$ brew install ghostscript
Otherwise refer to Ghostscript website.First, you need to install a few dependencies if they are missing:
Python 3 is certainly already installed, but you might need to install the others. The names of the packages vary between distributions. Here are the package names for:
$ pip3 install pillow
Unzip the archive and double click on BraceletDesignerPro.py.
If nothing appends, right-click on the file and edit its properties to make it executable
or run it with python: open a console in the exctracted folder and run
$ python3 BraceletDesignerPro.py
You can also install Bracelet Generator (requires superuser rights) with$ python3 setup.py install
Then, it can be launched from the console with
$ bracelet-generator
Tkinter will be installed automatically with Python. But you will need to install its library Pillow separately. You also need to install Ghostscript.
Unzip the archive and run add_gs_to_path.py to add Ghostscript location to the system path variable so that Bracelet Generator can find it. Then, launch BraceletDesignerPro.py.
I have only tested Bracelet Generator under Ubuntu (16.04 LTS), ArchLinux and Windows (7 and 10) and Mac OS X (El Capitan), so I do not know which problems you might encounter on other operating systems.
$ pip3 install pillow
$ brew install Ghostscript
Tkinter is sometimes included in Python standard distribution or is available as a binary package (for Linux or BSD). If you are using Mac OS X , you can refer to https://www.python.org/download/mac/tcltk.
Unzip the archive and double click on BraceletDesignerPro.py.
If nothing appends, you can try to define python as the default software to use to open it.
You can also launch it from the command line with something similar too:
$ python3 BraceletDesignerPro.py
The software supports French and English. I translated it with gettext so, if you want to add or improve a translation, you're welcome , the BraceletGenerator.pot file is in the po/ folder of the source code.
or
buttons
on the lower toolbar (Rows / Strings).
You can also type the number of rows / strings in the entries next to those buttons.
Rows always change by two. Strings change by two as well.
Perform a vertical symmetry of the pattern (one-shot).
Perform a horizontal symmetry of the pattern (one-shot).
H Mirror — Live horizontal mirror: edit the left half; the right half follows. A dashed line marks the split.
H4 Mirror — Live 4-fold horizontal mirror: same as H Mirror (a diagonal becomes a V), then that whole V is H-mirrored again into a W. String count is forced to 10, 14, 18, 22, … and + / − steps by 4. Mutually exclusive with H Mirror.
V Mirror — Live vertical mirror: edit the top half; the bottom half follows.
Half — When V Mirror is on, the row where the vertical split sits (always even). Use + / − to move it.
Repeat render — Repeat the design preview strip so you can see how the motif tiles.
Times (1–20) is how many copies. Picture export, text export, and Bracelet Book export use that same count (the knot list is repeated, and the HTML notes repeats).
Rows — Count, plus, and minus for pattern rows.
Strings — Count, plus, and minus for strings. New strings get a color not already in the layout, and far from the neighboring string.
Randomize colors — Assign a new palette across the strings
(rainbows, black/white + accent, neons on dark, two-tone families, and similar looks).
With H Mirror on, only the left half is randomized and the right side is copied.
With H4 Mirror on, only the inner left half is randomized (after the first H fold).
Undo restores the previous colors.
Est. width × length — Always shown. For 6-strand embroidery floss:
about 1 mm per string wide (18 strings ≈ 1.8 cm), and about 10 rows per cm long.
Length uses the current row count times Repeat render. Tension and knot type change the real size.
Show opens a top-down typical adult female hand with the bracelet
laid flat on the wrist (not wrapped), at the estimated size.
New, Open, Recent Files, Save, Save As, Quit, plus:
Export as picture — PNG, JPEG, or PostScript (Ghostscript needed for PNG/JPEG). Ctrl+E.
Export as text — Knot codes: 0 = forward, 1 = backward, 2 = bf, 3 = fb, plus string and row counts. Shift+Ctrl+E.
Export to Bracelet Book — HTML paste sheet: pattern image, color swatches (click a swatch to copy its hex), colors order, and knots as f / b / bf / fb.
Import from Bracelet Book — Paste Bracelet Book’s Colors used, Colors order, and Knots fields to rebuild the pattern. Live mirrors are turned off so the imported knots stay as-is. Empty Bracelet Book knots (0) are not supported.
H Mirror, H4 Mirror, and V Mirror stay on while you work, unlike the one-shot symmetry toolbar buttons.
String colors start from a built-in medium palette. Click a string square for the circular picker. Drag one square onto another to copy its color. Use Randomize colors to try a full scheme.
The Templates menu (next to File) lists every .bracelet file in the program’s templates/ folder. The list is rebuilt each time you open the menu, so files you drop in that folder show up immediately (use the .bracelet extension). Opening a template loads the pattern but does not set it as the save path, so Save will not overwrite the template.
Settings → Preferences opens startup options:
Only one of these is active.
Save as template (File menu, or the first item under Templates) writes a copy into templates/. That does not change your current save path.
BraceletBook uses f, b, bf, fb knots, hex “colors used” (letters a, b, c…), and a “colors order” string such as abbaabba.
The two-colored motif editor enables you to freely design a two-colored motif and then,
the pattern is automatically generated.
/ 
. or
buttons.
You can also directly set the number of rows / strings in the entries next to the buttons
.
Open a .bicolor file (erase the current motif).
Save the current motif.
Generate the pattern corresponding to the motif.
It destroys the motif, so save it before if you want to edit it later.
Clear the motif. Be careful, you cannot undo this operation.
Open the translation tool.
Rotate the motif counter-clockwise.
Rotate the motif clockwise.
Perform a vertical symmetry of the motif.
Perform a horizontal symmetry of the motif.
Quit the editor.
The translation tool enables you to shift periodically the motif in the directions given by the arrows.
Bundled patterns are in the templates/ folder next to the program (chevron, diamond, and any .bracelet files you put there). Open them from the Templates menu.
Enjoy and create amazing patterns !
If you encounter errors when trying to export a pattern in .png or .jpg, or if no file is created, check whether Ghostscript is installed on your computer. If it is not the case, install it and export should work. On Windows you can run add_gs_to_path.py in the program folder to add Ghostscript to the system path.
A console window titled py.exe means the app was started with the console Python launcher. Use Bracelet Designer Pro.exe in the program folder instead.
For problems with this modified version, contact Brett Cole. For the original project, open a ticket on the Sourceforge project page or email j_4321@protonmail.com.