A charoite bead embroidered pendant - a tutorial

I bought this beautiful piece of charoite several years ago.  I quickly stitched it into a piece and then just as quickly took it back apart!  The original design was just too big and busy, and the stone got lost.  And so it sat in my pile of "I'll get to 'em laters".

This design came together very quickly once I had picked a palette.  It's hard to tell from the photograph, but the pinkish seed beads in the bezel match the lighter shade in the stone itself perfectly.

Step-by-step instructions for putting together a bead embroidered piece, including back stitch, edging brick stitch, and stack stitch can be found in the free first chapter of Every Bead Has a Story.  Chapter two has instructions for stitching a peyote stitch bezel, and Chapter three teaches the square stitch bail.  The first chapter of Bored By Back Stitch covers how to convert beadweaving stitches to embroidery.  I've used the Russian spiral stitch to surround the bezeled stone.

1. It took several rows of peyote stitch (even count) with size 11/0 seed beads to reach the top of this stone.  I then added two rows with size 15/0 seed beads to cinch it in and hold the stone firmly.  I added one row of Russian spiral all the way around, skipping the corners, to begin surrounding the stone.  On the top, I've begun a second row of Russian spiral, anchoring it to the foundation fabric.

2. In the spaces left at the bottom, I stitched several stacks of accent beads.  These add some visual weight to the bottom of the pendant.

3. After adding a piece of backing fabric to cover all of the stitching, I stitched the edging with size 11/0 seed beads in edging brick stitch and added a row of picots with size 15/0 seed beads.

4. On the back, I added a bail stitched in square stitch.

5. Easy-peasy, quick and breezy!

This post contains affiliate links: Beadaholique

Copyright 2017 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.