T-shirt with Stretchy Noodle Binding on Cotton Jersey

I finished sewing a T-shirt for my sweetie for his holiday present. It’s hard to buy him gifts, but he always wears the T-shirts I make him. This shirt is entirely hand stitched in cotton jersey, using techniques I learned from the books by Alabama Chanin.

My sweetie like AV equipment and electronics. So I made this stencil just for him. I appliquéd the design with backstitch.

Here, I used my original binding technique with a jersey noodle. This is the second shirt I’ve made with this edge treatment, and I really like it.

I cut the strips of cotton jersey 1.25” wide before stretching them into noodles. Then I appliquéd the noodle to the edges in two passes as I show in the drawings here.

It’s easy to do this binding on the neckline because you don’t have to ease it like you do with Alabama Chanin’s folded binding, which I find to be a particularly difficult task to do on curved necklines. The fold-over step with the noodle automatically makes the noodle shorter than the finished neckline, making it just the right tightness. Here you can see the fold-over step half done.

So the finished neckline is taught and stretchy. Next time, on the sleeve ends, I’ll ease the noodle a little (with a shorter noodle) because I think it belled a little, and a little taper there at the ends of the sleeves would have been better and could have been solved with some easing.

Thanks for looking. Happy holidays!

Baroque Cube Earrings tutorial

Itty bitty beaded cubes to hang from your ears. 

Make your own. 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/250952884/

Something Old Is New Again

When I opened up the file to update it, I saw why I haven't been selling the tutorial for the Seven Sisters Pendant in quite a while. This was one of my earliest bead weaving designs, and I wrote the tutorial before I figured out how to write a tutorial very well. The only thing that was salvageable was the illustrations and some of the photos. I rewrote pretty much all of the text and shot a whole new sequence of step photos. Plus, I added lots of tips so that your pendant will turn out pretty, and increased the gallery with new photos of beadwork.

y section. Anyway, here's a link to the new, and much improved version of the tutorial.

Fairy Chrysalis Tutorial and Bead Soup Sale

I recently updated an old tutorial on free form beaded pendants.  Ten years ago, I wrote instructions to show how to stitch a Fairy Chrysalis, a pendant designed to look organic and constructed from a wide variety of beads. You can read all about the tutorial here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/536288125/tutorial-fairy-chrysalis-beaded-pendant

If you would like a kit to make a Fairy Chrysalis, then you should visit my Etsy shop this Wednesday July 19, 2017at 5 PM Pacific time. I will be having a big sale of kits of bead soup.  I hand selected each lot, and each lot of beads is unique. You can go to Facebook to tons of photos of all of the lots before they go up for sale, with sizes and prices.

Lot #1 has a crazy lace agate with crazy cool banding.  Red and earthy.

 Lot #3 has an amazing piece of orange bumblebee jasper. 

Lot #4 includes a very flashy labradorite.

Which looks really different under different lights.

There are lots more lots. To see the rest of the lots that I will have for sale on Wednesday, see this gallery on the Bead Infinitum fan page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/beadinfinitum/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1516325788427996

Thanks for looking!

New Tutorial - Cellini Marquis Pendant

Here is my latest design in my series on Cellini spirals made with peyote stitch and seed beads in different sizes.  With this new tutorial, you can learn to bead weave this Cellini Marquis Pendant.

The beadwork is stitched with just 3 sizes of regular Japanese seed beads. So if you are a bead weaver, you probably already have everything you need. Using just a pinch of each color, this a great way to use up seed beads leftover from other beading projects. No fancy shapes required!

Making the pendant is a suitable project for advanced beginning to intermediate bead weavers who like seed beads. The pendant measure 6 cm high, 7 cm wide, 12 mm thick.

The tutorial is 16 pages, with over 70 full color illustrations and photographs. The tutorial gives highly detailed instructions for every step in the pendant.

Thanks for looking.

Free Beading Pattern - Sierpinski Triangle

Once upon a time I was going to write a beading book on beaded angle weaves.  The first part of the book was going to show how to bead many of the basic angle weaves, and the last part of the book was going to show lots of charts of flat weave designs.

I abandoned that book idea long ago, although I haven't abandoned the idea of writing a beading book, just that one.  Some of the designs that I would have included in the book are now available for free here on my blog, including Hexagon Angle Weave, Circle Earrings, David's Star, and Super Right Angle Weave.  Others are in my Etsy shop and website, including Kepler's Star, Night Sky, Honeycomb, Lozenge, Book of Kells, and Solaris.

Before I tossed aside the idea of completing the book, I created three sample pages for the section with the charts.  Today, I'm sharing them with you because they're not doing anything particularly interesting sitting inside my computer.  I hope you enjoy them.

Have a great day. Thanks for looking.

New Tutorial - Solstice Earrings

You can learn to make Solstice Earrings with this original variation on Cubic Right Angle Weave (CRAW). This tutorial is very detailed, written for advanced beginner beaders who have a basic knowledge of bead weaving. Knowledge of CRAW is recommended but not assumed.

Solstice Earrings use two types of fancy beads, combined with our old favorites of seed beads and rounds. The fancies include little drops or daggers and little beads with two holes. This purple pair below is available here: Purple Solstice Earrings.

Several pages show and describe 6 pairs of earrings using different types of fancy beads, including all of these.

Depending on which bead shapes you use, each Solstice Earring is usually a little over an inch wide (28-30 mm) and 20-22 mm tall. You can also make large earrings (48 mm wide) like this pair with long dagger beads, which are for sale here: Neon Pink Solstice Earrings.

The tutorial is 15 pages, with over 90 full color illustrations and photographs, a COLORFUL FEAST for the eyes. The tutorial gives highly detailed illustrations, photographs, and written instructions to make six different pairs of earrings. That I have made so many pairs of Solstice Earrings is a testament to how much fun these are to make and wear. This is my King Tut pair in lapis blue and gold.

Thanks for looking.  Have a great weekend.

Tutorial - Bicone Bangle Bracelet Pattern Made with Seed Beads

This beading tutorial explains how to bead weave a bracelet with two sizes of Japanese seed beads and two sizes of bicone crystals. Use Swarovski crystals for a lot of sparkle! No fancy shapes required! The Bicone Bangle Bracelet is hollow and somewhat flexible, but if you reinforce your stitching, it will be stiff like a bangle should be. It measures 11 mm wide and 9 mm thick, 79 mm in outside diameter, 62 mm inside diameter.

This tutorial includes step-by-step instructions for weaving the bracelet into a continuous bangle.

This tutorial is designed for intermediate bead weavers. The weave is a variation on David’s Star, an angle weave like a cross between hexagon angle weave and super right angle weave. If you like angle weaves and want a new challenge, you’ll love this.

Thanks for looking.

New Tutorial - Kali Beaded Pendant and Little Bird Earrings

I'm still playing with new designs using beaded Cellini spirals in peyote stitch.  Now you can learn to bead weave little bird earrings and the Kali pendant with seed beads and thread.

This is Kali. She is a Hindu goddess of time and death.

The beadwork is stitched with just 2 sizes of regular Japanese seed beads. So if you are a bead weaver, you probably already have everything you need. Using just a pinch of each color, this is a great way to use up seed beads leftover from other beading projects. 

Beaded in the colors of fire, you can make a Kali Pendant that looks like a flaming phoenix. 

Making the earrings is a suitable project for advanced beginning bead weavers who like size seed beads, and the pendant is for more advanced bead weavers, first, because there are more steps, and second, because it's a little tricky to assemble the pieces. Both the pendant and earrings scale nicely with bead size.  The beadwork in the photos above use size 15° and 11° seed beads. You can also use size 11° and 8°, which make correspondingly larger pieces of jewelry. The little birds are either 35 mm or 46 mm, depending upon which size seed beads you use. The pendant is either 72 mm or 90 mm across.

I would guess that you could even scale it to use size 8° and 6° with good results, but I haven't tried it yet.  The larger beads are easier to work with, for sure.

The tutorial is 20 pages, with nearly 100 full color illustrations and photographs, a colorful feast for the eyes. The tutorial gives highly detailed illustrations, photographs, charts and written commentary showing how to make the earrings and pendant.

After writing the tutorial, I found a new color scheme for the earrings, the Ruby Slippers, still on the wicked witch.

Thanks for looking.

New Tutorial - Ginkgo Leaf Earrings Beaded with a Variation of Cubic Right Angle Weave

With nothing more than seed beads and thread, make these Gingko Leaf Earrings with this original variation on Cubic Right Angle Weave (CRAW). This tutorial is very detailed, written for advanced beginner beaders who have a basic knowledge of beading. Knowledge of CRAW is strongly recommended.

Each leaf is nearly inch wide (23 mm) and 20 mm tall. They’re small, and CRAW creates a lot of negative space. So they’re light, making them comfortable to wear as earrings.

The tutorial is 14 pages, with over 90 full color illustrations and photographs, a COLORFUL FEAST for the eyes. The tutorial gives highly detailed illustrations, photographs, and written instructions to make the earrings. Included are 14 different pairs of Gingko Leaf Earrings in different color schemes. That I have made so many pairs is a testament to how much fun these are to make and wear. Since they use mostly size 11° seed beads with just a few colors of 15° and 8° they are a wonderful way to explore color combinations with just seed beads.

I beaded Ginkgo Leaves from time to time for over three years before I figured out how to write it down on paper. In my blog, I said I'd be "insane" to write a tutorial for this design. This is actually because I didn't really understand how to do it. As I posted more and more pairs of these earrings on the internet, bead weavers wrote to me, asking me to write a tutorial. So, I kept making pairs and eventually, I drew some pictures, and my method became clearer to me. Months passed, and I made more pairs, and drew more drawings. Then I made more pairs and eventually I understood the method, and I was able to draw all of the steps in a way that makes sense. Then I took photos to match the drawings, and wrote it all up. This tutorial is the culmination of a long process to document these earrings so that other bead weavers can enjoy making them too. This tutorial is also super colorful. I used a rainbow pair for the step photos and illustrations in the hopes that you will enjoy looking at this the tutorial as much as making and wearing the earrings.

Free Tutorial - Lentil Lantern Beaded Bead Earrings

Here is a free beaded bead earring tutorial!

This little Lentil Lantern is a design I made with beads I got from Starman Beads. I'm on their Trend Setters team, which means that I trade them designs for free beads. This is my first designs that they turned into a tutorial.

It's a pretty fun deal for me since they did most of the work.  Amanda Hundt did the writing, illustrations, and stitching of the samples. Nichole Starman worked on the writing, and Lisa Jordan did the photography. All I had to do was he fun part... designing with their fancy two-holed beads, and a little proof reading. I hope you enjoy it!

New Tutorial Tila Icosahedron Beaded Beads in Three Sizes

I finished a new beading tutorial that will show you how to weave beautifully spherical beaded beads with just two-holed beads and seed beads. That's it.  Use half Tila beads to make a 16 mm beaded bead (perfect for earrings!), Tila beads for 22 mm beaded beads, and both types for 30 mm beaded beads. These beaded beads are remarkably hollow with large holes let you see inside and through them.

This tutorial is suitable for intermediate bead weavers who are comfortable with right angle weave. This beaded bead is a relatively quick project that will push your spatial reasoning thinking to new places. Presented is an easy and intuitive method for beading the beaded beads in all 3 sizes. The beads you need are just Tilas and two sizes of Japanese seed beads.

The tutorial is 16 pages, including 90 illustrations and photographs. The tutorial is a PDF file that gives photos, illustrations and detailed written instructions to make the beaded beads in three sizes. Lots of tips are included. Several pages show detailed photos of all three sizes of the beaded beads in different colors and from different angles. One page gives information on icosahedrons and how they relate to this design. Two pages show beaded bead necklaces that include Tila Icosahedron Beaded Beads. Thanks for looking!

New Tutorial - Cellini Asterisk Pendants

Make these starfish pendants in 2 sizes with this original variation on beaded Cellini spiral, using peyote and herringbone stitches and seed beads.

Alien flower pods or star fish? The center of these pendants is an urchin-like hollow puff of seed beads, with five pointy legs growing out of the base. The beadwork is stitched with just 3 sizes of regular Japanese seed beads. No fancy shapes required! So if you are a bead weaver, you probably already have everything you need.

This project is suitable for intermediate bead weavers who like peyote stitch. If you like the Victory Pod Earrings, you'll love making the matching Cellini Asterisk Pendant.

This tutorial shows three versions of the large Cellini Asterisk Pendant. The large ones measure 6 cm (2 and 3/8 in) point to point by 17 mm (less than 3/4 inch) thick. I made the easier version first, and although I like it, it is a bit squishy and, its legs are a bit wiggly. For the second version, I set out to make it stiffer, and so it is. The legs are also a wee bit fatter.

All of the adjustments are explained in the instructions. The stiffer large pendant is used in the step photos and illustrations. After you learn to make the units and assemble them, there is one page on stitching a bail, and another page on how to make the easier version of the pendant and how it differs from the harder version. There is also one page on the small pendant, including a few key illustrations and comments to get you started, and then a bunch of step photos showing how to assemble the pieces, including the bail.

You can also make these pendants with 2, 3 or 4 points instead of 5. So if you want to make a whole alien garden, you'll have lots of different flowers to put into it.

The tutorial is 15 pages, with 100 full color illustrations and photographs, a colorful feast for the eyes. The tutorial gives highly detailed illustrations, photographs, and written instructions to make Cellini Asterisk Pendants with seed beads and thread.

Thanks for looking.