I made myself a pair of semi-sheer trousers with some voided satin chiffon. I adore them, worn over lightweight leggings! And while cleaning up my studio, I got distracted with the scraps. It's a cool print, with lots of fall color and movement in the shapes, quite like falling leaves. Sooooooo... I made a little bead embroidered necklace!
And, I want to share the process with you. I no longer want to write tutorials, but I am happy to share my experience and ideas with my beady friends. See the yummy leafy patterns in the fabric? And the beautiful colors? Here we go! Here's a scrap from the trousers, with a nice leaf in the center.
Here's a scrap from the trousers with a nice leaf shape in the center.
And here's a piece of fusible web with parchment backing (aka Stitch Witchery) ironed to the fabric back.
Peel the parchment away from the fabric.
Trim away some of the excess fabric around the image, and fuse it to a piece of bead backing.
Then trim away excess bead backing, and with a fine tip pen, outline the edge of your image
so you can see it easily at your sewing machine. With lighter fabric or higher contrast you might not need to do this step, but since my image and ground were so similar...
outlining the image you want to bead embroider.
Take your time and do the best job you can. Accuracy does matter.
Then, with a super sharp scissors, trim away the excess fabric and bead backing as one, right next to the dense line of stitching. I changed my mind at one point (by the purple arrow) and
adjusted the shape of the edge there. I left the stitching I didn't want, as it would have been hard to remove, and I intended to cover it with beads.
Then I visited my obscenely large, retail-quality bead stash and pulled a palette of colors. I liked the range that was represented in the larger piece of fabric, as well as the beautiful fall world I see on my daily walks. I chose a gradation from purple through dark red, to brick, orange, and gold. Then a chose a mottled gold outline, wanting it to blend with the colors a bit.
Then I began outlining, in backstitch three, for maximum control and durability. I tried to wrap my hand stitches from the outside of the machine stitching line to the inside on the back as I backstitched, again, wanting to keep the edge super stable, and counting on the fusing and stitching for stability. At this point, I became very aware of the beautiful movement in the textile design lines, and decided to accent them with my outline beeads.
With the outline complete, and the movement lines accented, I decided to arrange my ombre gradation from purple at the stem, to gold at the tip. This leaf does not really represent the range of color in the fabric as a whole, but I wanted to see it all in the leaf necklace, regardless. I chose silver lined beads, which are quite luminous, and will not allow the background color to affect them very much.
Here's an image of the back at this point. You can see how I tried to wrap the outline stitches around the line of machine edge stitching. I also find that when working on bead embroidery, I do not need to tie off and re-start my thread when moving to a new start, since the work is on stiff bead backing, will be glued and leather backed, so those long overshots will be stabilized.
Here's the beginning of my fill stitching. I'm trying to accent and define the movement in the original lines of the leaf, and also to put the gradation of color where I want to see it. I'm now using backstitch 6 mostly, and still have to run my thread back through some of the lines to clarify and straighten them. Most people have a tendency to try to wedge in too many beads when embroidering, and I see myself a bit guilty of that, so will also back off as I continue. I am using mostly 11/0. but some 15/0 as needed.
I worked the tip of the leaf to get a sense of the color shift needed,
and now I can confidently fill the remaining open space.
OK! All the fill is done, and now it's time to back the leaf with leather.
My vast leather scrap box had some lovely metallic finish red! I laid my leaf on the back of the leather, drew a narrow line around it, and trimmed the leather away from the large piece.
Now I'm ready to glue the pieces together. I use leather glue, because it remains flexible,
and does not crack if I bend the finished work slightly to enable the edge stitching.
I used the applicator tip of the glue bottle to apply glue to the back of both the leather and the leaf, spreading it to an even, smooth coating with the spreader tool. then I pressed the leaf to the leather, and lay my heavy tool box on top of the stack, so assure all points were well contacted. After 15 min or so, I took off the tool box, to allow the adhesive to breathe and cure overnight. When I could no longer smell the glue, I trimmed the leather to the leaf edge, with my super-sharp pointy tipped scissors.
Then, I began the edging process. This is essentially a buttonhole stitch that incorporates beads. I place my stitches from the back side, so I know they are all evenly spaced and super neat. Then on the face, I sneak my thread under the edge beads to pass through the bead again, like the end of buttonhole stitch. If anyone REALLY WANTS to see how I do this, I could make a video. Let me know. :) This process guarantees that the three layers (fabric, backing and leather) stay neatly together and don't reveal any of their glued, fused secrets.
At the very top of my leaf, I added a 6/0 Demi bead to serve as a mobile connection point. This could have been a metal loop. but given sewing it on, it would have needed soldering, and that is beyond my skill set. Also, I know this is a fuzzy photo. I had forgotten how challenging taking good photos actually is. Yet another reason to enjoy my retirement!
And here is the finished piece. I used my Fall Flame tutorial to make the rope and bail.
The photography is so challenging, but honestly, I have forgotten SO much about using an actual camera, I'm afraid my IPhone photos will have to suffice.
I hoped you learned a little bit about using printed fabric to create bead embroidery. It's something I love to do. And rest assured, if you love the imagery, you don't have to cover it!
Sometimes, just outlines and accents are enough! As in this example from almost a decade ago!
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