Embroidery beads – an ancient art, widespread in many cultures around the world. Clothes, footwear, household items were decorated with graceful patterns. In India, beads were used to decorate purses and handbags. Indians of North America beaded leather shirts, moccasins and did all sorts of amulets, such as dream catchers, pendants for smoking pipes and shamanic tambourines. In Christian countries beads and semi-precious stones were often used to embroider icon covers. This amazingly beautiful art is very popular today, especially since the choice of materials, techniques and subjects is as wide as ever. Kits for beadwork and mixed technique embroidery produce many companies.
Let’s dwell a little more on each company’s kits, because the techniques and materials in them are quite different. Kits by Mill Hill are completed with branded beads of excellent quality, waxed paper backing, needle and detailed instructions in English. As a rule, these pendant crafts are quite small, very cute and pretty.
The technique of beading is quite simple, but it also has its little secrets. The basic stitch – the usual half-cross. But you can do it with sewing thread, preferably white, or you can monofilament. Both materials have their adherents. If you use regular sewing thread, beaded fabric remains soft, it is easier to sew the beads, fix the thread is also simple – as in cross stitch, “tail” is attached to the wrong side and hidden behind the stitches. But when pulling on the base you must be very careful to align the embroidery, with a broken thread beads instantly “run away”, and restore the damaged fragment can be quite difficult. Personally, I prefer monofilament (in fact, it is the usual thin fishing line). It is a bit more difficult to work with than sewing thread, but when stretching the finished work on the base, monofilament stretches slightly if necessary, without getting damaged, and you can align the beadwork more strongly.
To secure the monofilament at the beginning of the work, it is better to make a double knot on the end so that it does not pass between the threads of the base, and the first 2-3 beads stitch twice each in turn. When the thread ends, the last 3-4 beads are sewn first half crosswise in one direction and then backwards, but exactly all in a row, it loosens the tension of the thread. On the wrong side of the tip is fixed by the usual knot, but to hide it is better not for the neighboring stitches, but simply by stitching a few small (half a bead) stitches “forward needle” on the cloth-base. From the front side it is absolutely invisible, since the monofilament is thin and transparent. Particular attention should be drawn to the fact that the broach when beading can not do categorically.
Almost all icons visually consist of two parts – the central and the frame. To embroidered with a half-cross work less skewed, it is better to embroider this part separately, not continuous rows. So first the horizontal part of the frame is filled to the full width of the work, then (if provided) – the border of the central fragment with glass beads on all sides, then fill the central fragment, and separately the vertical part of the frame. The bottom (or top, if you prefer to start from the bottom) part of the frame is again made by continuous rows across the entire width of the work.
Some parts of the flashing can be embroidered in a circular pattern rather than in a semi-cross pattern with clear horizontal rows. To make the rounded lines of the beads look flat and neat, take the needle to the front, thread the bead, take the needle to the back, return to the place of the first piercing, take it to the face again, sew the bead once more and thread the next so that the thread has two beads at the same time. Then take the needle to the wrong side and return to the point between the two beads. Take the needle out to the face there, and again pass the beads that have already been sewn, and then the next one. This is essentially a reverse needle stitch. From the wrong side you will see an even stitch, and the beads will be aligned by the neighboring ones.
Sometimes it is not possible to place all the colors of beads because of lack of space. In this case, you can embroider in blocks of colors instead of rows. But it is very important not to allow broaches with this method.
I hope these little tricks will help you create a real masterpiece of beadwork for which you will spend many happy hours.