Craftsy Month – Bead Embroidery

This post is part of Craftsy Review Month on Sew Sweetness. To see a schedule of all posts, click here! Today’s post is from Kathie. Visit her at Glimmer Hearts Designs!

Hi, everyone!  I am a major Craftsy fan, as I am sure many of you are, too.  For this review, I took the Craftsy class “Bead Embroidery”.  I have been doing cross-stitch and embroidery since I was around 12 years old (and I am now 40), but I have never incorporated beads before.  I now feel like I want to put beads on every project I do!  This class was so much fun.

The class instructor, Myra Wood, is excellent and very personable.  It is obvious that she really enjoys embroidery and definitely knows the subject matter.

A little background on Myra Wood: Myra attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Philadelphia College of Art.  She now lives in Los Angeles and travels around the country teaching classes on knitting, crocheting, and embroidery.  Myra has authored several needle crafting books and taught five classes on Craftsy.  You can learn more about her on her website, myrawood.com.

In the class “Bead Embroidery”, you learn how to attach single beads, as well as do beaded running stitches (the backstitch, curved backstitch, stem stitch, feather stitch, and fly stitch).  Also, the class teaches you how to create beaded leaves (backstitch with couching, fishbone stitch, and bugle bead leaf stitch).  Finally, you will learn how to make beaded flowers (the spiral rose, lazy daisy, and flowers using bugle beads and sequins).

You will most likely want to practice these beaded stitches on a separate piece of fabric before you begin the class project. I did not think the stitches were very difficult once I got the hang of them, but they each took a few tries before I became completely satisfied with how they looked.

The class project is an embellished drawstring bag.  I thought the design for the bag was beautiful to begin with, but I was still so pleased with how pretty I felt it turned out.  I absolutely love it!  Here is a picture of my beaded embroidery up close and a picture of my completed bag.

In order to make the drawstring bag, you will need seed beads, bugle beads, sequins, pressed beads, and any additional beads that you may want to add to your project.  You will also need embroidery floss, sewing thread, short beading needles, fabric, and an embroidery hoop that is at least 7 inches in diameter.  A list of all necessary supplies is included in the class materials.

Something I wanted to make sure everyone knows:  “Bead Embroidery” is labeled by Craftsy as “Skill Level: Intermediate”. If you are brand-new to embroidery, you will probably want to learn the basics before taking this class.  I personally can recommend the Craftsy class “Design It, Stitch It: Hand Embroidery”, taught by Instructor Jessica Marquez.  It is a class that is labeled as “Skill Level: Beginner” and will teach you flat, looped, knotted, crossed, and fill stitches.  I have taken this class, and I have only great things to say about it, as well.

One issue I had: Myra recommends ironing your fabric before you begin, using a spray starch product to give your fabric some added stability.  I did this, but still felt like my fabric was too limp and thin to be worked with easily (I used a quilting cotton fabric).  Therefore, I decided to add a light fusible interfacing to my fabric, which worked perfectly for me to complete the drawstring bag project.

A great thing about bead embroidery is that beads are fairly inexpensive and you can find them in a lot of stores.  Just from doing this project, I accumulated a lot of beads, which is something I am very happy about!  I love that I have a nice start on my home supply and I am so ready to work on my next project!  Thank you so much, Sara, for allowing me to review this class for your site- I hope I inspired many of your readers to enroll in this class, because I truly think they will love it, just as I did.