September's Beady Prompt

Helllllooooooo, and sorry that the blog posts skipped!  I posted directly on Facebook and in the beady prompts group last month due to some personal stuff going on - I just didn't have the energy to write a whole blog.  The prompt last month was for Dutch Spiral Stitch, and it was a pretty good hit!  I'm happy to be able to say that several people tried it, who hadn't ever done so before.  :)  I did a few myself, too.

This is Angie Martin's beautiful take on the stitch (Angie is also known as Nanny Pink's Passion on Etsy and you can find her tutorials - this one in particular - HERE):

Amanda Connell of BeadiACDesigns on Etsy (her brand new shop is HERE) made this lovely creation:

Kate Larson is on her second rope now, and coming along fabulously:

And my two that I did during the month:

If YOU haven't tried it yet, I highly recommend it!  It's a fun project which can easily be customized, depending on your bead choices.

Onward to this month's prompt!!  I asked if the folks in the group were sick of ropes yet, and got a fairly resounding 'No' so I picked another one I really enjoy - Chenille Stitch!  As soon as I put down my Dutch Spiral I was into Chenille stitch in a big way, and actually made a ton of them - with a variation.  I intend to make a few more this month!

Chenille can be made with lots of different sizes of beads, although doing one all in size 15 would probably  be challenging (now why does that make me want to do one right away?!?).  I think it's one of the most relaxing stitches I know, and not hard to learn, especially if you've done herringbone.  Once you get the hang of it, it's a lovely rhythm, similar in my mind to peyote, even though it's roots are in herringbone.

Since there are many things to be done with chenille, I've included a few tutorials and links to different kinds of projects using the stitch.  You absolutely don't have to buy any of them to participate in the prompt, but since they're gorgeous AND fun, I wanted to include them.

So, basic chenille in the round (tubular) can be found HERE at Interweave by Jean Campbell.

Basic FLAT chenille stitch can be found HERE at Interweave by Jean Cox.

A wonderful tutorial on blending your colors for your rope can be found HERE by Marsha Wiest-Hines of Haute Ice Beadwork on Etsy - how gorgeous are these?!?!?

Tracey Lorraine has used chenille with fantastic effect HERE in her Kaleidoscope Bracelet:

Jeanne Evans had a fabulous necklace project published in Beadwork Magazine in the December 2014/January 2015 issue!  If you  have that magazine, you can grab it out and try her necklace AND some of her variations!

Cortney Philips of Baubles By Cortney came up with a stunning bangle bracelet that uses this stitch in an ingenious way:

You can find Cortney's Kelly Bangle HERE.

Sabine Lippert has come up with a variation of the flat stitch that I LOVE in her Firenze bracelet, which can be found HERE on her Trytobead site.  (Also, chenille AND rivolis?!?!  Who can resist?!?!)

And here is my Regency chenille variation, which uses Demi Beads and creates a pretty, quite easy to stitch up bangle or rope!  You can grab my tutorial HERE if you're so inclined.

My friend Sarah Tucker has made one using size 15 beads in place of the Demi Round beads, and it looks FABULOUS!

I tried it this evening myself, and size 15s work perfectly well in the pattern, and don't increase your bangle size noticeably - so if you like the look of the bangle and don't have (or don't want) Demi beads in your stash, you can simply use 15s in place of the Demis in each step.

And I made this rope (which ended up a whopping 48") that includes both regular chenille and my variation of the stitch in it:

I hope you find some inspiration here, and give Chenille Stitch a try if you haven't already - or revisit it if you have!