| Bead A Simple Flat Herringbone Choker |
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I think this bead necklace has kind of an Egyptian ethnic/elegant feel to it. It works up quickly and I think you will be pleased with the results. The flat herringbone weave gives it a different (and I think more interesting) texture than you usually see in necklaces of this type.
What You'll Need
- Seed beads in matte black and bronze lined clear. I used the new small cube shaped beads. I don't know what they are calling these size-wise, but they are not much bigger than a regular size 11 Japanese seed bead. Feel free to use regular seed beads instead.
- Black size A Nymo or equivalent.
- One string of black dagger beads.
- One package of tiny teardrops in red with gold lustre (these can be tiny
tims, magatamas, etc.)
- Clasp of your choice.
- Size 12 or 13 beading needle.
To begin, pick up 3 black beads and tie them in a circle. Go through the first bead in the circle and pick up two more black beads. Orient you work so that your thread is pointing down. Go down through the bead your thread is coming out of and up through the first bead you added.
Now pick up two more black beads and go up through the bead your thread is coming out of and down through the second bead you added. The idea here is to create a base row much like that of brick stitch but with a picot bead above the spot where each set of two beads meets. If you like you can use a bronze bead for every fifth picot. Continue adding beads to this base until you reach a length that is comfortable for you. Make sure to end with an even number of beads in the base row.
Add one side of your clasp to the last bead in the row, secure and snip your thread and begin a new one. The new thread should be coming out of the bottom of the last non-picot bead in the base row. Pick up two bronze beads and go up through the next bead to the left in the base row. Now thread down through the bead next door to get your thread into position for the next stitch. Each stitch is done the same way, pick up two beads, go up through the next bead in the base row and down through the bead next to that. Continue adding beads in this manner until you reach the end of the row.
To begin the second row, go down through the last bead you added. Pick up two bronze beads and go up through the second bead in the previous row and down through the third. This is the same as the row before.
If you were to continue adding rows in the manner described above you would be doing my version of flat herringbone weave. For this row though we are going to do something a little different. The first step is the same, go down through the last bead you added. Pick up two beads and go up through the second bead in the previous row and the bead directly above it. This is the part that's different, for normal herringbone, you would only go up through the first bead in the second column not both but we want the columns to separate a little bit. Now go down through the two bronze beads in the third column. Continue stitching in this manner until you reach the end of the row. When you get to the last stitch continue up through the black bead at the top of the column.
Now we need to add the drops. Skip the black bead your thread is coming out of and go down through the 3 bronze beads below. Pick up a tiny teardrop and go up through the second column of three bronze beads. Go down through the third column and pick up a dagger. Now go up through the fourth column of 3 bronze beads. Continue adding drops this way alternating a tiny tim with a dagger until you reach the end of the row. Secure your thread, snip, and you are done! :-)
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