To the right are pictures of a Star of David bead embroidery craft project I finished. As far as I currently know, a lot of bead embroidery is done by hand and I wanted a craft project a machine could not easily copy. The star is currently hanging on my living room wall in an 8″ inch (20. 32 cm) embroidery hoop. I ended up using a clear damage-free hanging utensil hook that holds .5 lb. I used three different colors of seed beads: crystal, glass transparent, and gold. Also, used six small silver heart shaped beads purchased on eBay. I used Microsoft paint and drew one triangle and copied it and rotated it to make the star. An internet search would have brought up a plethora of stars to use, if desired. Nevertheless, here is the Microsoft paint document of the star, star of David embroidery 7 or 8 inch hoop.

The picture to the right with the gold seed bead border and no water soluble stabilizer shows how I ended up having to put gold seed beads over other gold seed beads where the lines met and to avoid that I would complete it one triangle at a time. The next time I make this project I would outline one triangle first with the two or three rows of gold seed beads despite the minor nuisance of the water soluble stabilizer. The picture shows no water soluble stabilizer as it disappeared rather fast when water was run over it. A water erasable white ink fabric marker was used to draw straight lines in the star to help keep me on track in the direction I was hand sewing them. The organza fabric made it difficult to use the marker. In the future it may be better to use the marker on the kona cotton and then place the organza over the cotton fabric. I just used a standard small eye hand sewing needle and aimed to put five beads on it at a time and the sewed back maybe two or three beads and then added about five more beads. There was an issue with some seed beads not fitting through the needle and those beads were placed in a small separate container. 

The center beads are Beadaholique brand and were already pre-strung on a piece of thread. It seemed like it would be faster to just attempt to fasten down the pre-strung strands as opposed to the five bead method mentioned in the paragraph above. However, this lead to the beads being less secure, less straight, and overlap (having to place beads on top of each other, like with the gold seed beads). The beads in the center use the pre-stranded method and the hand sewing five beads at a time method. There was an issue with the Beadaholique beads not fitting past the needle eye and I would say it was worse than the Darice brand seed beads. This makes me wonder if using a beading needle would be better. Supposedly, because they are longer than most needles they are cumbersome and are for weaving and knitting fabric more than hand sewing beads. The six small triangles use the Darice glass transparent beads using the hand sewing method with about five beads at a time.

For the thread, I originally started using a metallic silver thread with beeswax for a thread conditioner. Still, I ran into issues with the metallic thread. The silver metallic part of the
thread sometimes separated from the inner white part from going in and out of the fabric. I ended up using a hand sewing thread. Although it was not silver in color it was much easier to work with and did not need the conditioner. I added a black organza fabric on top of the black kona fabric (which was on fusible fabric for stability) to add a more finished and delicate and decorative look. The fabric was washed and ironed. I tried using a tambour hook with the three layers of fabric and it did not work out well. Possibly, tambour hook embroidery needles work best with one layer of fabric. Also used a no slip Morgan hoop. I have used just the wooden frame embroidery hoops in the past. The Morgan hoop is more deluxe. I did make a few mistakes such as a few beads on the back of the hoop. I glued the fabric around the hoop to the back also. Despite the mistakes it made something beautiful.

 

Products used:

• Command Brand Damage-free hanging utensil hook, holds .5lb – command.com
• Darice Craft Suppliers 8″ inch embroidery hoop
• Beadaholique (TM) Czech Seed Beads 11/0 Cry BCS – 1010 ISBN 8 49087 01694 4
• Darice Craft Designer (TM) Rocaille Beads S/L Gold – darice.com – 1017-22   ISBN 0 82676 66833 3     – 8387 201607 0101
• Darice Craft Designer (TM) Glass Transparent Rainbow Seed Beads 10/0 Clear AB – 1103-19 ISBN 0 82676 50263 7    – 8837 201605 0101
• silver heart beads purchased on eBay – seller jennysun2013
• standard regular sewing needle
• needle threader (optional)
• hand sewing thread and metallic sliver thread and beeswax for a thread conditioner
• black kona cotton fabric
• black organza fabric
• fusible fabric 
• water erasable white fabric marker purchased on eBay
• Morgan embroidery hoop combo lap stand
  • nosliphoops.com
  • can use for punch needle, embroidering, red work, cross stitch, rug hooking, quilting
  • can place felt on bottom hoop to act as padding on legs
• Paper Solvy (TM) water soluble stabilizer Sulky(R) create with confidence (TM), printed design on the paper using computer, sulky.com

 

Related articles across the web

• Easter Egg Pincushion Tutorial by Hillary Goodwin & Kitty Wilkin
• 8 Bedroom Wall Decor Ideas To Liven Up Your Boring Walls
• 10 Amazing Christmas crafts for kids
• When Telemarketers Call, Just Hang Up
• China’s newest glass bridge overlooking a gorge will put you on the edge
• Beaded Fleur-de-lis Earrings Tutorial
• The most scenic roads in America
• 25 holidays that could change your life
• The Greatest of these is Love
• Happy Birthday to On the Needles!

Below is a picture of my sewing machine and a close up of the decorative stitches. It is a Husqvarna Viking (R) Tribute (TM) 140C 140th Anniversary Limited Edition Sewing Machine. It is the same as the Husqvarna Sapphire, but is red instead of blue and has some different outer cosmetics such as saying 140th Anniversary. It does date the machine and myself, but it is something different and I like it. I received this a few years a go as a birthday present (maybe 2014 or 2012). It is not the best machine and it is not the worst machine. It does not have embroidery, but you can argue some of the decorative stitches it has are embroidery. In the past I tried one of those $20 cheaper sewing machines and it basically stopped working. This machine has four fonts: Block, Brush Line, Cyrillic Alphabet, and the Hiragana Alphabet. It has utility stitches, quilt stitches, decorative stitches, and my stitches. For the ‘my stitches’  you can type in and save up to forty stitches and letters.

This bag was started as part of a beginning sewer’s class at JoAnn Fabric & Craft.  You can see my currently fourteen year old cat looking at the camera. She likes to keep me company, is great company, was adopted from The Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago, and was born in 1998. I have not completed the bag yet, but hope to try to sell it on Etsy when I finish. I have added some ribbon and decorative stitches and a butterfly punch needle kit design from Dimensions. You can see there are two linings I could choose from, the white or green design. I also have to add the handles or straps on the bag and will probably use large buttons to secure them.

 

Here is a McCalls Pattern 3341 Misses Skirt completed from a class at a local sewing machine dealer and a matching tunic I would like to make. There are some parts I would like to customize of the tunic such as not using the recommended size for a better fit and making the sleeves longer. Hope to use it for personal use and to learn to sew better. The pattern for the tunic is Kwik Sew (kwiksew.com) 3683 Fun & Easy Misses’ Tunic, Belt & Scarf. It is a pretty basic, simple, and quick pattern. However, as a beginner I appreciate the help of an instructor with this pattern.

 

This is a wall hanging quilt kit I bought from the Quilt & Sew Shop online. It is for the Log Cabin Star and includes instructions, batting, and fabric.  This size is rather small at 22” x 22” (55.88 cm x 55.88 cm). Still, as a beginner I am happy with this. I do not think an advanced quilter would use a kit, but it is all a learning experience.

 

 

This is from a beginner’s quilting class I took at Joann Fabrics and Crafts. The instructor was really good but openly deviated from the the recommended project and course outline. I have not added the backing yet and am still working on the border. It is not really a quilt, but was good practice. I think I could use it as a sort of sitting blanket for my currently fourteen year old cat Tabby.

 

 

This is to make a fringed denim tote as per a free project design at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft. The skill level is two (some experience necessary) and the estimated time is three hours and forty five minutes. I am using old denim clothes that I no longer wear or that do not fit me anymore. It calls for two different shades of denim. I also have a punch needle of a cat looking out a window from Dimensions (R) (dimensions-crafts.com). I was using a punch needle set from Boye (wrights.com) and was happy with it but then the needle threader broke and I was unable to find a replacement even online. The replacements were for different brands and too short for the Boye punch needle. I might have to buy a new punch needle set from Boye, but I do not need and want the additional punch needles. I will probably switch to a different brand of punch needles. I am not sure what I am going to do with the Boye punch needles, as they are too difficult to thread without the correct needle threader. They are too tall.

I am also interested in starting a stitch Bible as per the Stupendous Stitching class on Craftsy.com. I have some decorative stitches on my sewing machine that I would like to use and learn. Also, I have some patterns I got on sale (see post Pattern Buying Splurge 2012) and I cut them out in my spare time while watching TV or listening to the radio sometimes.