Add Beads to Your Cross Stitch Embroidery Projects

One of the most interesting ways you can embellish your embroidery projects is by adding beads onto your stitches. Adding beads brings a three dimensional look to your needlework and adds a unique form of beauty and visual interest. With today’s popularity of beadwork and jewelry making, there are some amazing beads available for you to purchase and add onto your embroidery projects.

You can purchase beads at your local drugstore, craft stores, fabric stores and even bead specialty shops. Bead shops can be found both online and through mail-order catalogues. Beads today come in an amazing variety of shapes, colors and sizes. Beads can be found made of many different materials and in just about any shape imaginable.

Embellishing your embroidery projects with beads is simple to do if you follow a few simple guidelines. Let’s take a moment and look at three tips and tricks which can help you to create amazing works of art with embroidery and beads, without adding frustration to your project.

Keep a Consistent Color Scheme

When you are looking at adding beads as an embellishment, you want to decide how you want them to look on your finished project. If you are after a complementary addition, you might want to use beads which are similar in color to your stitches. This will give your work a very elegant feel and at the same time won’t distract viewers away from your stitching.

If you are looking to add some extra visual interest to your embroidery, you might want to add a more bold or opposite color to your work. An example would be adding red beads onto a Christmas tree you have embroidered.

Another choice you have is to use clear thread, or thread which matches your fabric exactly, and add beads into the empty spaces on your work. This allows for the beads to be seen even if there is no embroidery under it; and the clear thread will allow your eye to see the beads and not the thread itself.

Test Your Beads for Quality Before You Stitch Them On

Not all beads are created equal. You want to use higher quality beads for your embroidery projects. You do not want the color to come off of them in the wash or through regular wear. To test your beads you can simply rub them together in your hands and see if they maintain their color without flaking. The best beads to use to embellish embroidery will be made of colored glass.

Use the Right Needle Size

While the size of your needle doesn’t matter too much when you are making your embroidery projects, it does matter, a lot, when you are working with beads. If you will be using glass seed beads, or other small-hole beads, you want to make sure you use a small thin, long beading needle to affix your beads to your project.

Beading needles work the best for two reasons. The first is that they will not break your beads when you thread them on. The second is that they are usually longer than embroidery needles and will allow you to string on beads all at one time if you want to.

Adding bead embellishments to embroidery projects can really make your projects “pop” and look like they were done by a professional. You really are only limited by your imagination!