Cubes, Zig Zags and Spirals

Over the weekend I had a chance to learn a beadweaving technique called Cubic Right Angle Weave or CRAW.

We have a Bead Society in Baltimore and they were hosting bead artist Jill Wiseman who happens to be the author of this wonderful book... Beautiful Beaded Ropes.    I found it at my library.

Remember that spiral rope that I did over Christmas...

Well, those of you who asked for a pattern, read on!  Jill had more surprises up her sleeve than just teaching me CRAW.

So what exactly is cubic right angle weave?   

Take a look at the very right tip of this beaded strip...

The cubes are woven by weaving four beads together in a circle to form one "side", then repeating it for three more sides, a top and a bottom.  The weaving proceeds by adding one cube to the preceding cube.

Once you get the basic cube idea down, you could change directions many times over to make all kinds of interesting shapes.

I'll be adding two more rows of zig zags to either side of the piece below before I am finished.

Lately, I've been doing a lot of beadwork.

More specifically, I've been trying to learn different methods for manipulating and weaving seed beads.  Whether it be loomwork, peyote, brick stitch and now right-angle weaving...I feel like all the methods are translatable to traditional needlework pieces.  I'm hoping that knowing the techniques will help me create my own designs to add to my embroideries.

Now for the great news.  Jill Wiseman has her own You Tube channel and has invested in hiring a professional videographer to film her tutorials.  So lucky us can learn from her FOR FREE and without having to travel to a class.  Isn't that grand of her!

Here's her video on how to do Cubic Right Angle Weave...

And here's her video on how to weave and finish a spiral rope.

Can't you see the spiral rope used for edging one of your embroideries?

Her You Tube Channel, Jill Wiseman Designs, has tons of free information, free projects and videos on beadweaving basics from beading surfaces and needles to reading charts.

If you're just beginning, it's a great place to start.  You might want to subscribe to her channel so you get updates whenever she uploads a new video.  Jill also has a website where she sells bead supplies, patterns and kits.

I'm off to zig zag some more.

Happy bead dreaming everyone. 

Award Ribbon Tutorial

Over the next week or so, I have to make about 6 purses that I've promised people for various fundraising events. The first one is due tomorrow.

I have a lot of yardage of this black/white houndstooth so I thought I would use that as the basis for all the purses. Each purse will be a bit different but they will all use the houndstooth.

I was cleaning up in preparation for my sewing extravaganza when I ran across lots of little bits and snips of fabric and ribbon. I put them all away into zip-loc bags for safekeeping but that got me thinking...


And the Award Ribbon was born. I've noticed award ribbons around a lot lately in the scrapbooking world and that inspired this one made of fabric and ribbon.

I thought this would make a great embellishment for the front of the purse I'm making today. I'm not quite sure yet what I will put in the middle... I think I'll make that decision after I've finished making the purse. I did post a few options at the end of the tutorial if you scroll down.

I LOVE how this turned out. I have dreams of making them for friends' birthdays; for thank you gifts, for special events...you name it. Here's how you can make one of your own. I took step-by-step pics along the way and as soon as I learn how to make it a .pdf, I'll upload it. But for now...

The Award Ribbon Tutorial

1. Trace a circle onto a stiff interfacing material such as Timtex. I used a glass as a template and my circle was 3".


2. Cut out circle. Choose a fabric to cover the circle and cut out about another circle about 1.5" bigger all around. I just eyeballed this...it doesn't need to be exact.


3. Using a needle and thread, sew a running stitch all along the edge of the fabric outside the interfacing circle. This doesn't need to be exact either but be careful not to make your stitches too large or the circle won't gather nicely. Make sure you end your running stitch overlapping where you started.


4. Using the ends of your thread, gather the circle around the stiff interfacing.


5. Iron the circle flat.


6. Now you have the center circle made and it's time to make the ribbon rosette. Gather together snips of varying widths of ribbon -- my snips are only 3.5" long. Press each little 3.5" snip in half...


7. Using your center circle to guide you, arrange the ribbon folds in a circle in a way that is pleasing to you.


8. Pin the snips to the fabric circle.


9. Baste the ribbon in place with large stitches making sure that you are catching each ribbon snip multiple times in your basting stitches. Remove pins.


10. Using a close zigzag stitch on your sewing machine, sew around the edge of the circle attaching all the ribbon snips to the circle. I didn't worry about making my circle sewing perfect... Remove the basting stitches.


11. Voila! You have a blank award...ready for embellishment.
So, if you would like, you could help me out today and vote for which of the following options you think is best for embellishing my houndstooth purse... I put a voting poll over in the sidebar so this could be interactive and we could all see what everyone else thinks. (I love polls! I just always forget about that nifty option in Blogger...)

1st option is blank like the award above.

2nd option: black millinery flower...


3rd option: pink millinery flower...


Thanks for stopping by, voting and I'd love to know if you end up making any of your own award ribbons!