Beading on Fabric

If you like to work with beads, eventually you may want to try sewing beads onto fabric.

Several years ago, I made a lined jacket and wanted to embellish the lapel with beads. I tried various methods, and ended up sewing the beads onto the jacket with nylon fishing line. If I were to do this over again, regular cotton floss would work just as well.

I decided to put an iguana likeness onto the lapel. It was just a basic tracing from a picture of an iguana, and the beads were sewn on in a more or less random fashion.

Here is a picture of the close up of the beaded iguana, and then the entire jacket:

The edging of the jacket also has attached beads.

For a tutorial on stitches, here is a good website I found: Coats and Clark

Basic Beading requires only a needle, thread and beads. There are just two stitches to learn—a stop stitch and a running stitch. Other stitches are variations of these.Basic Beading requires only a needle, thread and beads. There are just two stitches two basics.

Running Stitch: This is a stitch with a bead in it. Cut a length of thread no longer than 15”. Knot one end of the thread. Bring needle up through the fabric to the right side and thread a bead onto the needle. Bring the needle back through the fabric to the wrong side right next to the bead. Continue sewing beads using this running stitch. On straight lines, depending on the size of the bead, several beads can be threaded on the needle and sewn on in a single stitch. Every 3 or 4 beads, take a back stitch to secure.

Stop Stitch: This is for attaching two beads-usually a large and a small bead. Bring needle up through the fabric to the right side and thread first the larger then the smaller bead onto the needle. The small bead is the “stop”. Bring the needle back through the first larger bead to the wrong side of the fabric.Fence Stitch Bring needle up through the fabric to the right side and thread a bugle bead, a seed beadand another bugle bead onto the needle. Take a short stitch so that the bugle beads stand up creating a “fence”.

Loop Stitch: Create a dramatic edging with this stitch. Bring needle up through the fabric to the right side and thread several (8 to 10 depending on the size). Use the last 6 or 7 beads as the “stop”. Bring the needle down through the first couple of beads and to the wrong side of the fabric.

Vermicelli Stitch: This is the basic running stitch, but each stitch is taken in a different direction. It can be a pattern such as a zig zag or completely random.

This winter, I want to try more bead embellishment on vintage blouses and shirts. And THIS time I'll follow the directions.