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Earrings – Rings – Pendants – Stone Intarsia – Stone Cabochons – Beaded Jewelry

Seed Bead Stitching & Beadweaving

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Off-loom techniques including bead stitching or beadweaving include stitches such as square stitch, peyote stitch, ladder stitch, herringbone and others. While many people use a loom to accomplish these stitches, it is possible to create them without the use of a loom.

Seed Bead Stitching

Stitching together seed beads to make a bracelet, earrings, or other piece of jewelry is a great accomplishment! When you are first starting out, practice some of the easier stitches like square stitch or peyote stitch. When you are ready to tackle more intricate projects, there are many other stitches for you to learn and perfect!
Some of these stitches can be done on a loom, but an advantage of working off-loom is that you can create a piece larger than a loom would accommodate. The project in the banner, above, measures approximately 4″ x 6″ and was done in 2-drop peyote stitch, with approximately 100 different colors of beads! The image next to it is a photo I took at a lovely place I visited in Sicily. Browse the Off-Loom samples in my Portfolio to see just a few of the possibilities!

Multiple peyote beaded tubes made into a bracelet and necklaces
Multiple colorful peyote stitched bracelets with various sizes of beeds making a wave shape

Peyote Stitch

The peyote stitch, also known as the gourd stitch, is an off-loom bead weaving technique. Peyote stitch may be worked with either an even or an odd number of beads per row. Both even and odd count peyote pieces can be woven as flat strips, in a flat round shape, or as a tube. (Source: Wikipedia)

Square stitch bracelet in multiple colors that look like a stained glass window
Bead stitched bracelets in miltiple colors with diamond pattern and beaded clasp

Square Stitch

Square stitch is an off-loom bead weaving stitch that mimics the appearance of beadwork created on a loom. Loom patterns and even cross stitch embroidery patterns may be used for square stitch pieces. (Source: Wikipedia)

Beaded cuffs in multiple colors with beaded loops and lots of swarovski crystals
4 bangle bracelets made of bugel beads and seed bead in multiple colors

other stitches

There are so many other sead bead stitches, it’s impossible to list them all here. Multiple stitches can also be combined to make truly one of a kind jewelry! The crystal cuff on the left is Take it Easy designed by Karmen Schmidt.

I teach classes!

I teach classes to small groups or in a classroom setting. Contact me for more information!

So many beads…so little time!