When Beads Go Bad

Wiggly Beads Make Horrible Fringe!

Last fall I stitched Leigh Design's "Portal to Immortality" from her new Illuminations series.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp633x.html

The piece has fringe under the tiger screen that I wanted to bead.  I used size 11/0 round gold beads in a row packed tightly together and attached with tent stitches to create the fringe.  It looked so bad I didn't even take a photograph!  I decided the beads were too large so I removed them and tried again with size 14/0 hex beads.  This time I attached the beads with cross stitches every other stitch to space them out and keep them in line.  As you can tell, the "keeping them in line" part failed miserably!  I even went back through the vertical row of beads with one long thread to try and pull them into shape.  It didn't help.

Sigh.

Looking at the beads again I decided that they were the right size but that I needed to use something other than cross stitches to tame them.  For my next attempt I attached the beads with tent stitches, again skipping every other thread.  They were much straighter but I still went through the entire row again with one long thread to straighten them.  Success!

Third Try's a  Charm

The moral of the story is that you must have the right size of beads for the effect you want and if you cannot keep them straight, try another stitch to attach them.  For beads, persistence pays off. By the way, here's the finished Tiger Illuminations.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Mdl6333.html

Good luck with your bad beads!


Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright December 29, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.