Embellished Jean Jacket Pocket

EMBELLISHED JEAN JACKET POCKET

Reprinted with permission from "Beaded Embellishment: Techniques & Designs for Embroidering on Cloth" by Amy Clarke Moore and Robin Atkins (Interweave Press, copyright 2002).

SUPPLIES:

MATERIALS
• Seed beads, size 11 º and 8 º
• Teardrop beads, size 8 º
• Embroidery floss
• Jean Jacket

NOTIONS
• Scissors
• Size 10 beading needle

This is a quick and easy project—really! Dress up your favorite jean jacket, or any garment for that matter! In fact, you could embellish every item in your closet with fringe and other simple bead embroidery stitches. Just one garment and an hour a day, and in a short amount of time (relatively speaking, of course) you could have a completely bead-embellished wardrobe!

Knot your thread and come up through the back of the pocket flap and out the flap along the edge. String 2 size 8º seed beads and between 5 and 8 size 11º seed beads and one teardrop. Skip the teardrop and pass back through the beads and into the fabric. Knot off. Knot your thread and come out a bead’s width from your first fringe. String 1 size 8º seed bead and between 4 and 7 size 11º seed beads, skip the last one, and pass back through the beads and into the fabric. Knot off and repeat across the pocket flap.

Vary the number of beads you string each time to add variation. Use a palette of similar colors of beads and mix them randomly to add visual interest. From a distance, the colors will blend together, but up close they will have extra depth.