Beads in Summertime.
Hi everybody! Congratulations on the summer to have come, even though there were real doubts about its coming… There is very little time left to show off summer garments and thus I will try to squeeze my beading skills for summer use into one lesson.
First tip: you may stitch anything a needle can pierce - from T-shirts to shoes . During summer I may get really crazy in my stitching ideas, as beads look really gorgeous in the sunshine! I want to make thousands different things! So, first of all, I have beaded all blouses and jeans jackets that I could only find in my house.
Second tip: if you can't carry out the work neatly enough, pretend that it was meant to be like you did it. To this I gonna give more explanations. So far I have known only one way of turning a handful of beads into a garment precisely, neatly and relatively quickly - it is knitting. I will tell you more about it later on. Now I will concentrate on the importance of pretending that whatever you did, was meant to be like this.
Well, let's go! We'll start from a beading tool - a needle for beading. Usually I buy a kit of needles - in the long run it is cheaper, as they tend to break and it is always good to have enough number.
As soon as a beading needle appeared at your home, make use of it as often as you can, for example, for sewing buttons. In doing so, first sew the button and after it has been already set, add beads on top (beads should not be big, size 8-9). Four or six beads will do for one button, their color and location depend on your imagination.
I can suggest one simple way of making a chick attire out of a plain whole-colored blouse. First sew all buttons with beads on top. I like pearl buttons from shells. Then do beads along the edge of the collar - choose beads of one color and then you may fill the angles of the collar with beads of some other color. Then you may repeat the embroidery on the cuffs.
I never use ready-made patterns for my beading, combine beads of different style - I may use pearl or cut glass beads together with transparent or dim plastic beads. If you want to cover some area with beads, you may stitch it in zigzag lines and then make links of beads - in the end you will get free-style honey cell ornament.
Last summer, when I just got involved with beading, I once bought a big tapestry hand bag with a huge butterfly in rather ugly colors. Look what I have made of it! Tapestry is an excellent foundation for beading!
You may try to bead fabric summer shoes. They will hardly last longer than one summer but next year you will make something new and may be even more beautiful.
Good luck!!!
