It has been a while since I've last posted something new! So sorry!!! I've been on a soap kick recently and have been busy making soap. Anyway my beads have been calling to me so I've decided to give a tutorial on Peyote Stitch. It will be a series of posts covering different types of this stitch and there are many!
I love to use Japanese cylinder beads aka Delicas for any type of Peyote stitch because they are so consistent in size. They just snap together and conform like little bead soldiers. Of course, regular round seed beads can be used. You can also mix shapes, sizes and colours of beads (you can even incorporate beads other than seed beads too) but to start we'll stick to one size of a particular type of seed bead.
This week we will start with Flat Even Count Peyote Stitch. Let's use one colour of 8/0 Delicas.
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| Step 1 |
1. Add a stop bead by stringing a seed bead onto your thread and going back through the seed bead from the tail end, pulling tight. This will stop your beads from sliding off your thread and can easily be removed later.
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| Step 2 |
2. String an even number of beads to your desired width.
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| Step 3a |
3. Pick up one bead, skip the last bead and pass through the next one (a). Repeat until you reach the end of the row (b). As you work, you should notice that the beads are displaced. The beads that sit higher than the others are called "high beads". These high beads are the ones that you will weave into as you add more rows.
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| Step 3b |
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| Step 4 |
4. Pick up one bead, skip the last bead and pass through the next (the high bead of the previous row).
5. Continue working in Peyote Stitch until you reach your desired length.
Try alternating two colours of 8/0 Delicas for a striped look e.g string alternating red, blue, red, blue for as many rows as you like. The blue will become your high beads as you work. You will pick up red beads only to complete your next row and then blue beads only for the row after that. Soon you will see the pattern forming.
You are certainly not limited to stripes in Peyote Stitch. Be creative! You can stitch any imaginable colour pattern you like.
Check out the video tutorial I posted on my Youtube channel, The Bead Club Lounge back when it was called The Bead Club.
Next week we will cover Two Drop Even Count Peyote Stitch.
Labels: flat even count peyote stitch, free beading tutorial, free peyote stitch tutorials, peyote stitch, The Bead Club Lounge
