Want to learn more?
Watch Susan demonstrate this
technique on “Quilting Arts TV” Series
2600 available at quiltingartstv.com
or your local PBS station.ribbon and hold the bead tightly
so it doesn’t unravel.- Tack the end of the ribbon down
with the quilting thread, tucking
the knot inside the fold so it
doesn’t show. (fi gure 3)- Wrap the thread around the bead
tightly and back to where you
started and take a securing stitch.
Wrap tightly again in a slightly
different direction and take a
securing stitch each time you
come back to where you started.
NOTE: If you just wrap and don’t
take a securing stitch, the thread will
slip off the bead.- To go in a different direction, go
slightly past where you started,
take a securing stitch, and then
wrap the next time perpendicular
to the last wrap. The goal is
to hold down the loose bits of
ribbon and to add color. - When you get near the end of the
thread, knot it and tuck it under
an edge of the ribbon, and then
push the needle through the bead
and cut off the tail. (fi gure 4)
NOTE: If your hands are not strong
enough to push the needle through,
position the needle in the bead going
the direction you want it to go, and
place the bead on a cutting mat orfi gure 3
fi gure 4
fi gure 5
fi gure 6
cutting board with the needle on the
mat. Push down on the bead, taking
care not to stick yourself with the
needle as it comes out the other end.
When you have to push the needle
all the way through the bead, or
once the bead is tightly compacted
after it is wrapped, you might need
the pliers to pull the needle through.- Cut a 24" piece of perle cotton
size 3, and repeat the wrapping
process described in Steps 6-8.
(fi gure 5)
NOTE: I used a contrasting color.- Cut an 18" piece of perle cotton
size 8, and use it to secure
the intersections in the perle
cotton—the places where strands
cross—by stitching little Xs
across the threads. You can do
this in a neat, deliberate way or
you can make it random and a
bit messy—whichever suits your
aesthetic. (fi gure 6 )
Use the beads to make a
necklace or to create an
embellishment.