Welcome to a new lovely Beaded Floral Tutorial. Today I will be sharing a tutorial for another beaded leaf.
I was pleasantly surprised that this Russian Leaf looking project could be worked in a round. And I decided right away to share it with you.
The traditional Russian Leaf is worked as a peyote strip using increases and decreases (diagonal peyote) and then joined at the top afterwards.
Imagine my surprise when I came across this technique which gives surprisingly similar results and are worked in a round instead. I was flabbergasted and very excited to try it out. This leaf has the gorgeous rounded and three dimensional attributes as a traditional Russian Leaf and the tell-tale pointed tip. The only noticeable difference is the way the beads look at the center where normally the stitching is reversed to create the second side of the leaf.
First I am going to work through the process using 11/0 and 15/0 seed beads. The video version uses 8/0 and 11/0 beads.
Materials List
11/0 Version
8/0 Version
- 11/0 – Toho Seed Beads – Semi-glazed Rainbow Clover – A
- 11/0 – T – Aoho Seed Beads – Opaque Lustered Light Beige – B
- 15/0 – Toho Seed Bead – Jonquil Rainbow Green Lined – C
- S-Lon Size D – Beige
- Size 10 Beading Needle
- 11/0 – Toho Seed Beads – Transparent Olivine – A
- 8/0 – Toho Seed Beads – Silver Lined Matte Transparent Fern – B
- Size 10 Beading Needle
- Nymo Thread Size B
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The Set-Up
With a stop bead in place, pick up 2 A – 8B – A – B – A – Band carry to the stop bead.
Skip over the top three and sew back through the fourth to form a picot.
Pick up eight B and sew through both A beads at the bottom.
Row 1
Peyote stitch using B beads for four stitches. Pick up one, skip one and sew through the next.
Pick up a B and sew up through the B on this side of the picot. We will do this on each odd numbered round.
Pick up a B and sew down through the B on the other side of the picot. We will do this on each odd numbered round.
Peyote stitch using B beads for four stitches. Pick up one, skip one and sew through the next, with the last stitch sew through both A at the bottom. Step up into the first bead added in this round.
Row 2
Begin the row with two 2-drop peyote stitches using A beads. Pick up two A and sew through the next bead sticking out. Take two regular PS using A beads.
Pick up an A and sew up through the B on this side of the picot.
On even numbered rows we will add an additional picot. Pick up a B – A – B and sew down the B on the other side of the existing picot as shown.
Peyote three stitches using a single A bead.
Take three 2-drop stitches using A beads. The third stitch crosses the gap. Step up into the both beads of the first 2-drop stitch added in the round.
Row 3
This is a single drop row using A beads. Remember to sew through both beads of the 2-drop stitches of the previous round when you reach them.
The fifth bead added is sewn up through the B bead on the picot as before.
This is an odd numbered round. Pick up an A and sew through the A of the picot.
Pick up an A and sew down through the B on the other side of the picot.
Take five single peyote stitches using A beads on this side of the bead work. Remember to sew through both 2-drop beads.
At the bottom, pick up an A and sew through both beads of the center 2-drop stitch.
Pick up an A and sew through both beads of the next 2-drop set.
Step up into the first bead added in this round.
Row 4
This is a 2-drop row using A beads once more. Take a 2-drop stitch and four single stitches.
Add a three bead picot at the top.
Take four single PS’s and four 2-drop stitches.
After adding the last set, step up into the first two beads added in the round.
Row 5
This is a single drop row but use all 15/0 beads in this round.
At the top, pick up a 15/0 and sew through the center bead of the picot.
Pick up a 15/0 and sew back through the same bead again. This adds a lovely tip bead to the leaf.
At the top, pick up a 15/0 and sew down through the bead on the other side of the picot.
Finish the row with 15/0 beads and step up into the first 15/0 of the round.
Weave back through the beads to the tail thread and tie the two into two overhand knots move through a few beads and end both threads.
I hope you have enjoyed today’s tutorial and have fun experimenting on your own.