HIGH STRUNG
JEWELRY MAKING AND BEADING
FOR WOMEN ON THE EDGE
by Kathleen Lynam

Intuitive. Inspired by Nature and the world around me. Translating feelings and senses and vague images into beautiful jewelry, wonderful beadwork, exciting wearable pieces of art. Beyond following step by step. We're on the edge and we're high strung about it.

THE SQUARE STITCH

When learning how to bead-weave, I think the Square Stitch is one of the best stitches to begin with. It is not difficult to do. While learning, it helps teach you the basics of bead weaving. That is, how to…

1) hold your piece while working with it
2) manage the thread tension
3) begin your piece
4) end your piece
5) add simple embellishments

The Square Stitch can also utilize patterns developed for Cross Stitch, Loom, or Knitting. This makes it very easy to find many basic patterns for very pretty bracelets, necklaces, and other beaded objects.

The Square Stitch lends itself well to uniform, square cut beads. Therefore, cubes and delicas will produce even, straight rows.

Rounder seed beads are more difficult to use with the square stitch. However, I often use 8/0 seed beads to create a square stitch band, off of which I embellish or add fringes. The embellishment or fringe hides the slight curve in the square-stitched piece produced by the rounder beads.

There is little concrete information about the Square Stitch prior to the early 1990’s when it began showing up in instruction books. Some people say it can be traced back to early African beadwork and some work dating back to the 15th century beadwork out of England.

Whenever I do square stitch, these pointers, which I’ve learned from experience, come to mind:

o Try to keep your tension as even as possible. This is particularly true when using size 8/0 or larger seed beads.

o I flip my work over after every row so that I am always working bottom to top.

o I hold on to my working thread as I begin each row. For me, this helps to keep my tension more uniform.

I have made several bracelets using a square stitch base, including my Monet’s Garden Bracelet.

Here the bracelet has a square stitch base made with 8/0 seed beads. From this base, I create fringes to give a sense of a flower garden. Even though this base is covered, I still need to maintain good tension – Why?

Well the obvious – we all like our beadwork to be smooth and with even tension (even the back side).

However, with the square stitch, if your tension is too tight, your beadwork will creep up on itself. Too loose, and it’s not only sloppy but screams poor construction.

With the square stitch, find a way to control your bead stitches – not too tight, and not too loose. Just right.

- Kathleen