How to Make Beaded Pillow Fringe

Are you tired of the same old dull pillow adorning your bed? Would you like to dress the pillow up and learn how to adorn any cloth accessory in your home? You can use learn to make beaded fringe for pillows, lamp shades, curtain valances and many other cloth items.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Glass beads
• Needle
• Thread
• Scissors or snips
• Pillow
• Straight pins
• Ruler

1. Gather all the materials needed for the project. Choose a bead that is either a contrast to the color of the pillow or a color that the pillow contains.

2. Measure the item and determine how far apart you want your fringe. We are going to use a 1/2 inch for this example. With the straight pins, mark each 1/2 inch. This tells you where the fringe should go. Begin 1/4 inch from the corner of the pillow. You should end with a 1/2 inch from the next corner because most pillows are an even number of inches across.

3. Cut off a length of thread that is at least 12 inches. Bring both ends together and tie them in a knot. Lay your beads out in the order you want them on the fringe. One by one, thread the beads onto the needle and thread until you obtain the length of fringe you want. No longer than 2 inches is suggested for the fringe.

4. Finish the 2-inch length of fringe and count the beads. This will tell you how many beads you need for each 2-inch length of fringe. Locate the first straight pin on the pillow edge. Catch 2 to 3 threads of the material on the pillow on the bottom side of the pillow with the needle. Pull the thread to the end of the beads. Loop the thread over and repeat catching 2 to 3 threads of the pillow. Now tie a knot in the thread to secure the fringe. Make sure the fringe dangles nicely and is not too tight against the pillow.

5. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until you have completed the fringe all the way around the pillow and it is ready for display.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure you thread the beads in the same order as the first fringe.
• You can use tube beads, round beads, square beads, oval, faceted, smooth or any shape you desire.
• You may want to add tassels to the corners of your pillow by making your fringe 4 inches long and gathering 5 to 6 strands of the fringe together. Then attach to the corners.
• Do not catch more than 2 to 3 threads of the material.
• Do not put fringe on the corners of a pillow.
• Do not tie the fringe too close to the material. It will cause your fringe to curl and not hang properly.