One-Drop Peyote Stitch on a round item

[Quilty]

To begin beading One-Drop Peyote Stitch on a prepared round item:

The item to be beaded has previously been covered with felt glued into place.

I am using red and white Delicas here to make it easier to illustrate the steps in doing One-Drop Peyote Stitch.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518072-ppc07.jpg

Cut yourself a looooong length of Nymo thread. I like to have about 3 yards to start with.
Hopefully you won't get into too many tangles, but you will need lots of patience and a good work practice to avoid the frustration of having knots and tangles to undo.
That's just beading for you! ;)

Pull your length of thread several times through your thread conditioner.
This will help to stretch it as well, and will remove excess kinks and bends caused by having been wound on a bobbin or card.
Pre-stretching Nymo reduces the twist in the thread and helps prevent gaps and pulls and other irregularities in your beading.
Having conditioned your thread this way, pull it through your fingers to "magnetize" it with static electricity which also helps reduce knotting and fraying.

Thread your needle by pushing the eye of the needle on to the end of the thread held just visible between your thumb and finger tips. This is usually the easier way than the conventional method of threading.
If you have problems, try turning the needle around so that the thread enters from the other side of the needle's eye.
The eye in the needle is pressed out in it's manufacture and is therefore often easier to thread from one side than the other.

Take a stitch into the felt on the prepared item midway between top and bottom, and pull the thread through until the end is just hidden in the felt.
Take a backstitch to help secure the thread, and do several more stitches, each separated by another backstitch to make sure the thread will not pull out once you start beading.
You will need to be putting some quite firm tension on this thread, and therefore it is important that your thread is well secured.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518119-ppc08.jpg

[Quilty]

Threading on those beads:

Thread on an EVEN number of beads, enough to go completely around the circumference of the item.
It absolutely must be an even number in order to do One-Drop Peyote Stitch without an interruption in the pattern.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518292-ppc09.jpg


The item I am beading here took 76 Delicas to go around it, pulling the thread quite firmly.

They do need to sit very snuggly against the felt, so it must not be a slack ring of beads so have beads overlapping, but there may if necessary be a tiny one-bead gap which can be eased out around the spool.

If you can get a number that is also disible by 4 (for example, 4, 8, 12, 16, etc) or by 6 (for example 6, 12, 18, 24, etc) then you are well set up to create some interesting patterns without having any interruption in your design.

My number (76) is divisible by 4 and that gives me some good scope for designing certain patterns.
If you are very good at design work, you could have any even number and plan a design to suit.

BUT IT ABSOLUTELY MUST BE AN EVEN NUMBER. :)

[Quilty]

Setting up the base row:

Wind your threaded beads around the circumference of the item at it's midline and push the needle through several beads where you have met at where you started. Pull the thread right through those beads and pull it tightly enough to keep the ring of beads held snuggly against the spool. Thread through more of the beads, working in the same direction, and pull tightly some more.

You will need to keep a good firm tension on the thread to keep those beads from becoming slack.
At this point it is a good idea to poke the needle out from the beads and take some stitches, separated with back stitches, in the felt to help secure that first row of beads in place.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518151-ppc10.jpg


Some beady types regard the first few rows as temporary ones and later remove them, but I have never done it that way - and I am showing you my way of doing it. :)

[Quilty]

A-beading here we go:

When you are happy that your ring of beads is firmly and securely in place, pass your needle through one bead and out again in order to start beading.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518313-ppc11.jpg

Pick up one bead with the tip of your needle and pass the needle through the SECOND bead ahead of where you started. That is, you must miss the first bead and pass your needle and thread through every ALTERNATE bead on that first ring of beads.

You will notice that, as you pull the thread taunt (and you must keep a good tension on the thread) that this process dislodges the little beads so that they move into an up-down arrangement by half a bead. Yep, that is exactly what you want them to do.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518337-ppc12.jpg

Continue adding one bead at a time, keeping a strong tension on your thread so that the beads hug into the felt on the spool firmly and neatly.

[Quilty]

Continuing One-Drop Peyote Stitch (I):

Continue to work around the item, adding a new bead and passing the needle through every alternate bead on the row above.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518357-ppc13.jpg

In the photo above, the new bead is the red bead and it is placed snugly under the white bead above it.
Ease the beads into place with the needle or with your fingernail to have them sitting correctly.
Keep the thread firm so no slackness forms in the beadwork.

In this example, I am beading from the midline downwards, but you may just as properly bead from the midline upwards. In fact, I normally bead upwards towards the top of my work.
Which direction you go, upwards or downwards, from right to left, or left to right, does not matter one bit.
You choose whichever way is most natural for you. But having chosen one way, you are best to keep to it for the rest of your project.

Keep working until you have come full circle.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518377-ppc14.jpg

When you have gone full circle, pass your needle through the first bead you added in order to start on the next row.
See the photo below.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518401-ppc15.jpg

[Quilty]

Continuing One-Drop Peyote Stitch (II):

To start the next row, pick up your new bead and set it into place by passing the needle through the alternate bead next to the space this new bead is to go.
In my example below, the new bead is a white one and will be set into place in the gap between two red beads.
I am using white beads for this row, and each bead will be set into the gap between the red beads of the previous row.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518423-ppc16.jpg

Below is how it looks as work continues.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518446-ppc17.jpg

It is your choice of colours and positions in which you place those colours that determines the designs you create.
The following photo shows three beaded cotton reel spools of different designs waiting to be finished as beaded pincushions.
In each of these examples, the initial number of beads threaded around the circumference was divisible by 4, and therefore the patterns can repeat every 4 beads.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518475-ppcd.jpg

On the beadwork I am using for the next four photos, the pattern repeat is 6 beads giving yet more pattern design potential again.

[Quilty]

Finishing the thread:

I have reverted to another beaded item to show you how to finish off the thread when it either becomes too short to work with, or gets damaged.
On this piece of beadwork I have been working from the midline upwards. It makes no difference if you are working upwards or downwards - the finishing and starting of threads is achieved the same way.

The last bead I have beaded here is a light blue one. You can see the thread coming out from the hole in that light blue bead.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518519-ppc18.jpg

Push the needle into the felt and bring it out again, keeping the thread taunt, to make a stitch.
Do a back stitch to anchor that stitch, and then take several more stitches separated by back stitches.
When you believe the thread is securely held and will not pull out, you can snip the thread close to the felt.
These stitches will be covered by your beadwork and will not show on the finished item.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518540-ppc19.jpg

[Quilty]

Starting a new thread:

This is done the same way as you started before beginning your beadwork.
Make sure you have conditioned your new thread before you start again.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518571-ppc20.jpg

If you have been working from right to left (as I have been doing) then you will need to start to the right of the last bead that you beaded into place.
Push the needle into the felt and take a stitch followed by a back stitch.
Make several stitches and back stitches this way until you believe your thread is secure.
Work towards the last bead that you beaded into place and position the needle to go through the felt and emerge through the last one or two beads that you beaded on.

http://community.visiblesoul.com/forums/images/1098518606-ppc21.jpg

You can see in the photo above that my needle has come out through both the darker blue and the lighter blue beads, the light blue one being the last bead I had beaded on.
Now I am ready to continue beading according to the pattern. :)

[Quilty]

Finishing the beaded item:

When you have beaded all the way to the end of the item, push the needle and thread through the last row of beads again a couple of times to help pull them in snugly and to secure your beadwork.

Then carefully push the needle back through some of the beads (or underneath them), going in a zig-zag direction, towards the midline of the spool to your first row of beads. You will definitely need a thimble to do this without puncturing a finger, and probably some pliers to assist in pulling the needle through or under the beads.
You will probably need to come out through the actual beadwork, but don't worry about that.
Just push the needle back through a second time, taking care not to leave a loop of thread showing.

Take care not to break any beads! However, broken beads can be picked out and replaced with new ones sewn into their place afterwards, but it is far better not to break them in the first instance.

Start again at your first row of beads, turning your work up the other way, and continue beading as before to complete the rest of your item.
You might like to make your design symmetrical by copying the beadwork you have already done, or you can do something different instead.
You are the design artist. It's your call. :)

[winger2]

A very, very good turorial. Very easy to follow and understand. I don't usually do peyote, but I may very well try it this way. you make it look so easy. I would like to see how you would go about doing it when you don't have the felt to hold it in place, as for a amulet bag for example. I have see so many amulets that I would like to try, but have avoided them because of the stitch. I have only made one, and although it turned out pretty good, it took me for ever. If I could do it as easily as what you make it look here with the felt I might be willing to make more of them.

[Quilty]

Thanks Winger! I have made two-drop peyote stitch bracelets and found no problem doing them without the felt backing. I don't imagine it would be any more difficult doing one-drop peyote although I do acknowledge that the starting rows are a little tricky just because there is not much to hold on to until a few rows have been done. However, I found the same to be so with square stitch too. Maybe trying this stitch on the felt first, until you get comfortable with it, would be the way to go.

[Beadfoxx]

Very easy to follow. Great job