How to Do Flat Bead Work With Seed Beads
Seed beads range from 3 mm to the more usual 2 mm or smaller. Flat work using bead knitting, bead weaving in brick stitch or embroidery is labor-intensive. Create an applique with any method, but only embroidery is suited to direct embellishment. Bead knitting and brick stitch are best suited to making items such as bags and jewelry. Bead knitting is most difficult to use for a complex pattern. Experiment with each technique before you commit to an elaborate project.
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Things You'll Need
- 11/0 (1.7-mm) seed beads
- Size 8 perle cotton thread
- Size 0000 (1.25 mm) knitting needles
- Beading needle
Instructions
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Bead Knitting
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1
Thread all of the beads you plan to use onto size 8 perle cotton thread, reversing the order in which you plan to use them. For instance, to make vertical stripes in two colors on a bracelet 11 stitches wide, thread color A, B, A, B, A, B, A, B, A, B, A for each row --- 2 A beads together for the end of one row and the beginning of the next.
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2
Cast on 11 stitches. Knit two rows.
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3
Purl row three, for each stitch inserting the right-hand needle as usual and moving one bead up between the right-hand needle tip and the fabric below. Leave the bead there as you finish the stitch.
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4
Knit row four, for each stitch inserting the needle as usual and moving the next bead up against the purl side of the fabric. Continue in stockinette stitch, with the beads on the purl side.
Bead Weaving in Brick Stitch
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5
Thread a beading needle with size 8 perle cotton thread and string the first two beads for your first row. Tie the two ends of the thread together, close to both beads and drawing them up side by side. Leave a tail to work back in later. Run the needle back up from the knot through one bead and the opposite direction through the other.
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6
Run the needle up again through the third bead for the row, then down again through the second and up again through the third. Continue adding beads across the row in this way (a ladder row), running through the new bead, the opposite direction through the preceding bead, and back through the new bead. End coming out the top of the row.
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7
Start back across on the second row by stringing two beads on the thread, following your pattern. Catch the loop connecting the first two beads in row one, and go back up through the second bead in row two. String the next bead for that row, catch the next loop along the preceding row, and come back up through the same bead. Continue to the last loop on the first row and back up through the last bead. The second row will be shifted half a bead to the right from the first.
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8
Make the third row the same way you did the second, shifting half a bead to the other side. Continue following your pattern, row by row. Work the ends of the thread in.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Thread no more than two or three beads at once to embroider, and if a curve is too loose and floppy, tack it down with a stitch between beads.
Run lines of beads close together to fill in shapes you draw or stamp on fabric.
References
- Photo Credit beadwork bracelets from guatemala image by monamakela.com from Fotolia.com
