Tutorial on how to work Beaded Herringbone Stitch

Beaded herringbone is a variety of Herringbone stitch which makes a very attractive border stitch and is an ideal to use in crazy quilting to decorate a seam.

With this stitch the beading is done during the stitching process not added afterward. The trick is use a size 26 tapestry needle. Since the eye of a tapestry needle is long you can thread perle #8 and Perle #5 through the long eye. However the needle itself is thin which means you can add a bead to your working thread as you stitch.

The samples below are worked in # 5 cotton perle thread.
Beaded Herringbone stitch step 1 Start Beaded Herringbone as you would regular herringbone stitch and work from left to right between two lines. Bring the needle out on the bottom left-hand side of the line to be worked.

Beaded Herringbone stitch step 2 Make a small stitch on the top line which points to the left, pull the thread through.

Add 4 or 5 seed beads to your thread.

Beaded Herringbone stitch step 3

Insert the thread on the lower line a little to the right and make a small stitch which points to the left and pull the thread through.

Beaded Herringbone stitch step 4

Work a second crossbar by moving to the top of the line to make a small stitch which points to the left and pulling the thread through. Continue in the manner along the line.

Beaded Herringbone stitch step 5

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Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned embroiderer, Creative Stitches for Contemporary Embroidery gives you techniques to encourage and develop a fresh and creative embroidery style. Discover play points in your embroidery, explore variations in height and width, stacking stitches, or using repetitions of the same stitch to create areas of texture and shape. All these and more will give you creative variations and demonstrations of small tweaks for big effects to send you down your own creative path, all richly illustrated with plenty of eye candy. with plenty of eye candy.