Bead Weaving
Weave-Along 3: Finishing The Beaded Purse
I found the final Greek keys a little tricky to weave. It’s so easy to pick up too many of one bead and mess up the pattern. I have a great tool that I use when I discover I’ve strung up one too many of a color and it’s in the middle of the strung beads and I don’t want to unstring and restring them. Yup, it’s called my two front teeth. Why I can’t just have a pair of pliers near by to do the same thing. Why do I always revert to my teeth? And every time I do that I risk breaking the thread. Haven’t broken the thread on this piece yet so I continue with this silly risky behavior. How many beads did I have to break? Today, three. That’s quite a lot. But once I got through the final finicky small Greek keys I was pretty much good to go. Hey, I didn’t mess up the final three black rows at all!!!
Now to finish it.
The last row and cutting off loom
Before you remove piece from the loom SEW THROUGH THE LAST ROW OF BEADS. If you don’t, the piece will start to fall apart because the beads are held in by the crossing of the warp threads.
Loosen the tension on the loom. Cut off leaving as much warp thread as possible (you need at least four inches to make an overhand knot . . . but more is always a better). Don’t let the piece crash on the table. A bead could break.
Next, tie off the ends. This is how to go about that. Put some kind of weight on your piece. I use my heavy brass beater, but anything from a stack of books to a brick (and yes I have one of those in my studio too!) will do.
Take a pair of warp ends and tie the beginning of a square knot (the knot you use to tie your shoes). This is illustrated by the figure 1 in the above diagram. Just do that first one. Do not do figure 2 and 3.
This will get the beginning of the knot firmly against the edge of the tapestry. Do not pull so hard that you distort the piece. Just keep the edge line of the tapestry straight.
Now find yourself a thick needle or a thin knitting needle . . . anything that’s pretty thin and sturdy. You will use this to help place the overhand knot close to the square knot. Let me first show you an image of an overhand knot:
You are simply treating the pairs like one thread and tying it around itself. Okay, so what’s up with the needle? Well, when you tie this knot it’s not particular about where it lands and chances are it will not land very close to the edge of your tapestry. So, if you stick a needle in that hole before you knot is secure and push it toward the edge of the tapestry you will be able to control exactly where that knot will land. Once it’s flush with the edge of the tapestry, remove the needle and tighten the knot. You can use this trick for so many things.
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Tie off end warp pairs first |
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Then tie all the rest. |
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Trim your warp ends but not that short. I left about an inch and a half. |
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Neatly pin down the silk lining. |
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There is a reason I don’t sew for a living! |
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All sewn up and ready to become a case. |
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Folded up and ready to stitch together. |
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The two black rows should be the bottom edge of the piece. |
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Starting to stitch with beads the bottom edge. |
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Keep doing this! |
I am leaving that last bit because we ended up not publishing this yesterday. I did go on my visit and then, to my surprise, ended up driving to Albany, NY the next day to meet my son at the bus station. At least I didn’t have to drive all the way to Ithaca, which is seven and a half hours from here.
But while I was in Boston I did finish my purse and because I was relaxed and enjoying the company I had a blast doing it. While trying to rush out the door and get it done, I wasn’t having so much fun.
So these are my final pictures:
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I used the gold iris beads to do the sides of the flap. |
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Picture of side of purse where I’ve used beads to sew it up. |
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That’s it folks. I am done! And it was fun. Please post your pictures!
www.mirrixlooms.com
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