How to Make a Bead Rosette

Bead rosettes are beautiful little circular bead patterns that you can use as accents on clothing or jewelry or as the central pieces for pendants. You can even use them to accessorize cross stitch patterns. Making bead rosettes is fairly simple, but the first one you make will probably take you a while simply because you are working with very tiny little beads. Generally, rosettes are made of seed beads, and so that is what we will use in this example, but if you are teaching a child this skill you might want to let them start out with larger beads and then scale down.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 3 colors of seed beads (50 or more of each)
• Thread
• Needle
• Scissors

1. Tie your thread around the end of the seed bead that you want to be the central color of the rosette. Use a tight square knot to make sure that the bead does not slip off.

2. Cut a length of thread to use for your rosette. The longer the thread, the larger you have the option of making your rosette.

3. Use your needle to string a circle of beads around the central bead. They can be the same color or a different color. You will probably only be able to fit a total of four of five beads around the central bead. After you have two of the beads on the thread, take the thread back through the central bead to anchor the outer row on beads in place, then string on the rest of that circle and take the thread through the center bead again.

4. Start your next circle of beads in the rosette. After you have anchored the first row of beads to the central bead, you can start your next row. Pull the needle through one of the outer bead's center and then string two or three beads onto the thread, depending on how large the seed beads are. These beads should be a different color than the row that they are next to. Thread the needle back through the seed bead next to the one that you started at. You will see that you are creating a new row of beads that will encircle the previous circle. Continue until you have fully encompassed the inner circle.

5. Continue creating bead rings until your bead rosette is as large as you like. When you are finished, knot the thread around the last bead and then trim the ends so that there are no hanging threads. Now you can use your bead rosette as a piece of jewelry or a fashion accessory.

Tips & Warnings

• The more distinct the colors of beads are, the better your rosette will look.