Paula Rae Schmidt teaches us how to anchor beads in this short video posted by The Stitching Fox on Facebook.
For those without a Facebook account who can't see the above, I'll summarize what Paula recommends--first she waxes her beading thread by pulling the thread over a cake of wax, then she holds the thread on each end and pulls it to help relax the thread. To anchor her bead, she uses a size 11 bead (either a clear bead or in the same color family as the rest of the beads you'll be using) on the needle. She slides that larger bead down to almost the knot at the end, then puts her needle through the size 11 bead again from the tail end of the bead forward. This leaves two little tail ends of beading thread on the outside of the bead. Then she goes through the bead again the same way, leaving four little tail ends. The bead looks like a knot. Note that this is before the beading thread goes through the canvas--you will just have a length of thread with a size 11 bead at the bottom. Think of it as a special sort of knot that goes on the back of the canvas and won't interfere with finishing.
Paula says you can also lock your beading thread in place by piercing one of the canvas meshes (beading needles are very sharp) but she doesn't find that very effective personally. Like almost all needlepoint technquies, you can choose the one that works best for you.
Written by Jane/Chilly HollowBlogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright August 13, 2026 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.
