Ready for a New Stitch??
Welcome back to Bead Weaving 101. Today we are going to put our new Ladder Stitch skills to work.
As we talked about earlier, we use a Ladder base for the beginning of Brick and Herringbone Stitch projects.
Over the next few weeks, we are going to focus on Brick Stitch Basics and a few advanced techniques and variations.
The Brick Stitch, also known as the Cheyenne Stitch or Comanche Stitch, is a bead weaving stitch in which individual beads are stacked horizontally in the same pattern as bricks are stacked in a wall.
The technique has been used by Native Americans and in Africa, the Middle East and South America.
Brick Stitch is wonderfully versatile and is used in the flat and tubluar forms.
Brick Stitch can also be used with another component, such as a bead or bead frame to create lovely embellished bead work and is also used to embellish the edges of bead embroidery projects.
Today we are going to start out with the very basic Flat Brick Stitch technique.
In this traditional form of this stitch, the bead work will naturally decrease by one bead per additional row.
It can be used to create beautiful components, such as earring bases for fringe or even beautiful bracelet ends, as shown here.
Let’s take a look at the materials and tools used in this tutorial.
Tools and Materials
You guys are probably getting tired of looking at these beads by now, but they work so well for so many stitches, I use them over and over for these tutorials.
I have included my affiliate links for a few of my favorite supplies below.
- Color A Bead 8/0 Delica
- Color B Bead 8/0 Delica
- Stop Bead
- Beading Needle – Size 10 Pony
- Beading Thread – 8 pound Fireline Black Satin
- Ultra Thread Zap
You can substitute any two colors of beads, as long as they are both the same shape and size, such as two colors of 8/0 round seed beads.
The Ladder Base
We need a base before we can begin Brick Stitch.
Using the directions for Ladder Stitch, build a base that is one bead high and eight beads wide of the Color A Beads.
When we ladder stitch beads together, we are connecting the bead with thread bridges at the bottom and top of the beads.
We will stitch under these thread bridges when working Brick Stitch.
Beginning Each Row
To begin each row, we will pick up two beads.
By doing this, we can stitch the new bead upright, as on the base without having any exposed thread on the outside of a bead.
We will stitch under the second thread bridge away from the bead our working thread is exiting.
My working thread is exiting from the top of the bead to the far left.
I pick up two Color B beads.
I skip over the first thread bridge (between beads 1 and 2 on the base) and I sew under the next thread bridge (between beads 2 and 3 on the base.)
Notice that the thread past is from back to front as I pass under the thread bridge, towards myself.
Sew back up through the second bead you picked up.
This will be the bead farthest away from the edge of the bead work.
Next we will straighten the first bead and add a thread bridge at the bottom of the two new beads.
Straighten the First Bead
Pass the needle down through the first bead, and then back up the second bead once again.
The two new beads will nestle in nicely against one another and the working thread is now in position to add the remaining beads to the row.
Every additional row will begin with these same steps, just alternating between Color A and Color B.
Completing Each Row
The remaining beads of each row are added one bead at a time.
Pick a Color B, and pass the needle under the next thread bridge.
Step up through the new bead.
Repeat the two steps above to the end of the row and there are no remaining thread bridges visible on the base.
Now we have 8 beads on the base and 7 beads on row 1.
This is what I meant earlier by the bead work naturally decreasing due to the traditional technique.
Each additional row from here will have one bead less that the one before it.
Thus, Row 3 will have 5 beads, and Row 4 will have 4 beads and so on.
Additional Rows
The next row starts exactly the same as before.
The direction of the row is reversed, but you can flip the work if you prefer sewing in the same direction.
Pick up two Color A and sew under the second thread bridge.
Repeat the steps above for straightening the first bead and positioning.
Follow the two steps to add the remaining beads of the new row.
Remember to step up after adding each new bead.
Here is what the bead work looks like at the end of the third row.
I hope this tutorial helps you understand Brick Stitch and how the thread path differs from other bead weaving stitches.
Here is a short video, that deomonstrates all the steps and information we have talked about today.
In the next Brick Stitch tutorial, we will talk about how to use an Increase to make the bead work have the same number of beads per row.