Things You'll Need:
- 2 colors of seed beads
- Beading needle
- Waxed beading thread
- Scissors
-
Step 1
Cut a 2-foot length of waxed beading thread and thread your needle. Leave an 8-inch tail from the needle. Thread on one seed bead to the end of the thread. Insert your needle around and back through the seed bead to secure it on the thread.
-
Step 2
Thread on seven more beads the same color as the first. You now have eight beads in your first row. Consider them numbered from one to eight, with eight being the last bead you added.
-
Step 3
Thread on one different colored seed bead. This is the first bead on your second row. Insert your needle back through bead seven on your first row, or the second bead from the end of your first row. Pull the thread taut so that the last bead you added sits atop bead number eight in the first row.
-
Step 4
Add another bead and insert your needle through bead number five on your first row. Pull the thread taut so the second row of beads sits above the first row. Add another bead and insert your needle through bead number three on the first row. Pull the thread taut. Add another bead and insert your needle through bead one on the first row.
-
Step 5
Add a bead the same color as the beads on your first row. This is the first bead on your third row. Insert your needle through the last bead you added to the second row. Add another bead and insert the needle through the next bead on the second row.
-
Step 6
Continue to add one bead and feed the needle through the beads on the second row, one bead at a time. When you reach the end of your third row, add a bead the same color as the beads on your second row and repeat the process outlined in Steps 5 and 6. Continue practicing the stitch with alternate colors until you are confident that you can follow a colored pattern to create Native American designs. If you run out of thread, add another strand by tying a knot. The knot will disappear into your beadwork.
-
Step 7
Find a color pattern design that you like online, in beading books or other written material. Peyote stitch patterns are visual, not written. The patterns correspond to different colors of beads that you add during the course of working the peyote stitch. Each time you add a different colored bead, you create a design in the pattern. Follow the pattern to create your own Native American bead designs.
