Free Design - "Holiday Fun"

Download PDF file for Holiday Fun instructions

This project assumes that you know how to make the Spiral Rope Chain from Anne Hawley's website. To learn this incredibly fun stitch, choose the classroom link at her Hillsinger Fine Hand Beadwork site.

The finished pieces make fun earrings for the holidays, or you can add a hanger and use them as decorations on minature Christmas trees. How about making a pair in black and gold or black and silver for New Year's Eve!

Make sure you use a long length of thread so that you don't have to add thread during the weaving. To start, you make a short length of Spiral Rope Chain. I made mine about an inch long. In the directions for the netting, the green and red beads are called "accent" beads.

The green and gold piece uses the following sequence:

Start with 4 gold core beads, and (1 gold, 1 green, and 1 gold) for the 3 outer beads. Then add 1 gold core bead, and (1 gold, 1 green, 1 gold) for each stitch. Continue this pattern until the chain is the length you want, then weave the thread back to the first green bead on the chain.

For a spiral with a more obvious core, use the following sequence (which I used for the red and silver piece:)

Start with 6 silver core beads, and (2 silver, 1 red, and 2 silver) beads a total of 5 outer beads. Then add 1 silver core bead and (2 silver, 1 red, 2 silver) for each stitch. Again, continue until you have the desired length, then weave back to the first red bead on the chain. This sequence makes a finished piece with a larger diameter, so if you don't like large earrings, I would suggest trying the smaller design first.

Once you have the chain finished, you are going to start doing a netting stitch to form the dimensional spirals. In the first diagram, the black beads indicate the accent beads that are already on the chain (the red or green beads in the case of my pieces.)The blue beads are the beads you are going to add, using the same color as the accent bead.

Row 1: Make sure you are exiting the first accent bead with the thread facing toward the rest of the chain (travelling toward the bottom of the chain.) *(Pick up three beads and go through the next accent bead, this time with the thread going toward the top of the chain. Pick up three more beads and go through the next accent bead, with the thread going toward the bottom of the chain.)

Repeat from the '*' until you reach the last accent bead, then weave the thread until you are coming out of the middle bead of the last three beads you added, heading back toward the top of the chain.

In the next diagram, the green beads indicate the previous row, and the blue beads indicate the beads you are about to add. Again, both rows are done in the same color as the accent bead.

Row 2: *(Pick up 5 accent beads and go through the middle bead of the next 3 bead section.) Repeat from the '*' until you reach the last section at the top of the chain. Again, weave the thread until you are coming out of the middle bead of the last 5 beads you added, heading toward the bottom of the chain. You will be straightening out the beads from the previous row in this row, so that they no longer look like they are on opposite sides of the spiral.

Again, the green beads indicate the previous row. This time, however, you are going to be preparing for the final row, which is the same color as the core beads. Thus, the blue beads are the accent color and the red beads are the core color.

Row 3: *(Pick up 2 accent beads, 1 core bead, and 2 accent beads. Go through the middle bead of the next 5 bead section.) Repeat from the '*' until you reach the last section at the bottom of the chain. Again, weave back to the middle bead of the last 5 beads you added, heading toward the top of the chain.

The green beads here indicate the accent beads from previous row, with one red bead in the middle of each stitch. The red beads you are about to add go through the red beads in the previous row.

Row 4: *(Pick up 7 core beads and go through the core bead in the next 5 bead section.) Repeat from the '*' until you reach the last section, pick up 7 more core beads and go through one of the accent beads near the very end of the chain.

To add a loop, I wove the thread back through to the other end of the chain, then added a loop of core beads, before ending the thread. If you want to make an earring out of it, pull the loop through an earwire before closing it.

I haven't done any more with this, but I think a long length of this would make a neat necklace or some fun garland for a miniature tree as well. I've even thought of making it in size 6/0 beads for a full size tree, but that will have to wait until I have a TON of time to spare!

Suggestions and additions to: banshee@BeadingBanshee.com Copyright © 2002 Mary Winters-Meyer	Contact The Beading Banshee