Welcome to another fresh and beautiful flower tutorial. Florals seem like the perfect way to brighten up the grey winter days.
I hope you are enjoying this series of projects as much as I am.
Today, we are going to expand on the netting technique we used to make the Chrysanthemum Pom Pom flower to create a layered Aster flower with a center. I used seed beads and Delica beads in the sample above but for this lesson, I will demonstrate using only seed beads.
Materials and Tools
I will be using two colors of size 11 Czech seed beads. I got them from Hobby Lobby but feel free to use any color you like for your flower. I condition my thread with microcrystalline wax, but any thread conditioner or thread wax work as well.
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The Project
I made an alteration to the way I work on this project after I ran into a problem on my first sample.
The flower can be created from a single strip of bead work but to ensure that the layers roll up without any gaps. I rolled each section before beading the remaining layers. Alternatively, I could have beaded the outer layer strip to the bead work that makes up the center and roll the flower in one strip.
In this lesson, we will roll as we go.
The Center of the Aster
To begin, cut a lavish wingspan of beading thread. Pre-stretch the thread, condition it and thread the beading needle.
I added a stop bead to my thread
Step One – Pick up 4 pink beads and 1 dark red and drop them to the stop bead.
Step Two – Without picking up, skip over the red bead and sew back down the next pink bead as shown.
This creates a short fringe which will be visible at the center of the flower.
Step Three – Pick up 1 pink and sew through the bottom 2 pink beads.
Tighten the stop bead up to the bead work if needed.
Step Four – Pick up 2 pink beads and sew back up the pink bead sticking out in the previous row, which is the last bed you added.
Step Five – Pick up 1 pink and 1 red and drop them down to the bead work.
Skip over the red and sew back down through the pink bead. Snug the fringe up to the bead work.
Step Six – Pick up 1 pink and sew through the bottom 2 pink beads.
Tighten the stop bead up to the bead work if needed.
Repeat Steps 4 – 6 until you have a total of 10 red beads along the top of the strip. Add the last pink bead in Step 6 so that the working thread is exiting the bottom of the beadwork.
Rolling up the Center
Without picking up sew up through the 2 bottom beads on the fourth set back as shown and then sew back down the 2 bottom beads on the last row again.
As you pull the threads, allow the last rows to roll over onto the previous rows as shown.
Sew back up through the two beads on the 4th row back again.
Sew down the next set of two beads on the base. Repeat the last two steps until the working thread is exiting the fourth row back from the roll.
Roll the bead work over and locate the set of two beads on the roll closest to the beads that your working thread is exiting and sew up through to set.
Sew back down the set of two on the base that you started from.
Sew up through the next set of beads on the base and down through the last set, so that your working thread and tail threads are exiting the same set of beads.
At this point you can either continue rolling and square stitching the last set of beads to the roll or wait until adding the next section of beads to he base strip.
The Next Layer
The next round is very similar to before. the make difference with be in the fringe section.
Pick up 2 red beads and sew up through the pink sticking out bead on the base row.
Pick up 9 pink beads and drop them down to the base.
Skip over the last bead and sew back down the next bead. Snug the fringe to the bead work if needed.
Pick up 6 more pink beads and sew down the last bead of the initial nine.
As you create these petals, you will want to tighten them down the base by holding the bead you skipped over at the top and pulling on the working thread.
Pick up one red bead and sew through the two red beads at the bottom.
Repeat all the steps about until you have enough bead work to fully wrap around the core center.
The first and last sets of red beads at the bottom should meet. In my samples, it took enough rows to make 14 petals.
Sew up and down through the red sets of two beads at the bottom until your working thread is exiting the fourth set of beads closest to the center roll of bead work, if you secured all the sets to the base roll previously, the second set if you did not.
Roll the center over and sew up through the set of pink beads closest to the set your working thread is exiting.
Sew back down through the set of beads you started from.
Sew up and down the next 4 sets of beads, roll the center over and square stitch the beads on the roll just as before.
Repeat these steps until you have worked your way back down the current strip of bead work securing it to the roll.
The Last Layer
The last layer is stitched exactly and the previous one except by using all the dark red beads:
2 beads in the bottom set
9 beads in the petal
1 bead as you sew down
I wound up having to add thread to finish this layer of the flower. The easiest way to add thread is to weave on the new section using the two bead sets at the bottom of the strip. The same goes for weaving off your original working thread.
As with the previous layer, stitch your way back down the strip until your thread is exiting the fourth set of beads closest to the roll from before. Square stitch the new strip to the closest sets of beads on the rolled up portion of the bead work.
At the end, square stitch the first and least sets of red beads together.
Weave off the working thread.
After weaving back through the beads, you can end the thread with scissors or a thread burner.
I hope you like this addition to the flower garden we have made so far.
I am really enjoying this series and I have a few more ideas for tutorials for this month.
So stay tuned to the Alluring Bead Boutique for much more inspiration this year, by subscribing to my newsletter and following my blog. Find the forms in the sidebar.
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See you in the next post.