Beading Basics

oops, apologies.... i meant to say "i have never cross stitched with...."

Thanks again,

Elizabeth MacLeod

My general experience so far, on a limited basis, has been using an unobtrusive shade of floss. I would look to match either the fabric shade or surrounding stitch colors. That beside the point, I also noted that you are planning to bead on Mirabilia patterns. I have noted that some Mirabilia patterns has scattered and independant beading sections (away from blocks of stitching). I am considering using Nymo thread when beading on my Mirabilia's (somewhere down the road). One thing I cannot stress enough though is I use full crosses when attaching my beads. I feel this ensures more stability and helps the beads to behave nicely without that durn "wriggling". Just my own experiences...

-- ~Connie~

Use Nymo, either white or light grey. It doesn't show at all. Don't stitch under the bead, it'll fit nicer to the spot. And most of all, use full X when attaching the bead. Test on other fabric first, how does the bead look like if you put it horizontal or vertical. It'll end up vertical if you start stitching from lowleft to upleft, upright to lowright. If you want the bead to stand up, then stitch from lowleft to lowright, upright to upleft.

Johanna

I am no expert, and have done very little beading. However, when I did some a few months ago, I felt a lot happier having the ends more firmly anchored at the back than I usually do. When a normal cross has been anchored, there is almost nothing which tends to loosen the stitches from the front. However, a bead is different. It has weight, and can easily be knocked. I have no idea whether I was just being paranoid, but I used a much more secure anchor at the back of the work for the threads I used to bead. HTH.

-- Jim Cripwell. From Canada. Land of the Key Bird. This creature of doom flies over the frozen tundra in winter, shrieking its dreaded call; "Key, Key, Key, Key rist but it's cold!!"

There is also an option if you want the bead to be diagonal. Stitch the bead on with two strands of your selected thread (Nymo, color to match fabric, color to match bead, color to match surrounding area of stitching--your choice). Bring the thread up just as if you were starting a regular cross-stitch. Go through the bead and take needle down into fabric just like the first leg of cross-stitch. Bring thread back up for second leg (diagonal the opposite direction) and make a gap between the two strands of thread. Lay them so one strand is on each side of the bead--do not go through the bead--and complete the second leg of the cross-stitch. Snug the threads up around the base of the bead. This will let the bead lay diagonally but prevents the floppiness. Using two strands also gives you more bulk for securing your tails on the back of your work. You will want to complete both legs of the stitch on one bead before moving on to the next bead.

Pick> Use Nymo, either white or light grey. It doesn't show at all. Don't

-- Brenda