Learning a New Stitch

On Saturday, I was able to learn a new off loom beadweaving stitch at our local arts council. The pictures above are of first the bracelet that we were taught -- a wonderful elegant Victorian style cuff bracelet. This is one of Ginny Burnett's specialities. We were lucky to have her for a teacher. The bronze colored bracelet is the bracelet that I made later when I got home. I always like to do another very soon after a beading class so that I will be sure to remember what I learned. Now I will have a model.

The bracelet we made in class features an off loom stitch called Herringbone. This can be a very supple stitch and is often used for flat straps and bracelets. I have wanted to learn this for some time but I don't do too well trying to learn beading stitches from a book. The live experience is what works for me and Ginny did a great job.

My friend Sally Hartmann, Ladies First Gallery, came with me as she also enjoys bead weaving.
Afterwards we did some bead shopping at a great shop that surprised me beyond my wildest dreams. More on that later i.e. my newsletter.

Ginny taught the class using size 11 seed beads. Her choices of colors for each of the three styles: Peacock, Fire and Sea were exquisite. I chose Peacock and they were were so beautiful. We spent the three hours in the class learning the stitches and making part of a bracelet. And as you can see, I took photos as well.

But to really get that stitch into my mind, I needed to make another bracelet in my favorite size beads, 8 and often 6. I chose to make my bracelet in size 8 seed beads and used 4 different colors.

Mine is quite different from the elegant, Victorian style that Ginny is so good at, but I really like mine to.

If you want to learn even more about Herringbone stitch, you can visit Ginny's blog. She also has a wonderful Etsy supply store called Goblin's Market and a jewelry store.