Bead Design and Considerations

by Lisa Ashton

The purpose of sewing beadwork onto fabric is to:

Create surface embellishment for texture.
Break up large, plain areas of fabric.
Highlight certain areas and draw the eye to them.
Emphasize the line of the fabric.

Many techniques are used to accomplish this. How will beaded areas affect the overall look or "hang" of the garment? This is where knowledge and practice with various types of fabric and their draping qualities is important - practice with different types of materials. The thing to do is, design the costume and get your beadwork ideas.

Before beginning a piece, consider:

Finished size. How much beading will you have to do?
Weight. An important consideration because bugle and seed beads are glass, and add weight rapidly. Remember, the garment is normally crated to be worn, so a denim jacket or vest can carry more beads than a silk chemise or gauzy scarf.
Cleaning capability. Can the beaded work be detached so the garment can be cleaned?
What effect you want to use the beading for.

**Beading Effects**
Effect	Used For	Recommendations
Beaded Medallions	Centerpieces for jackets, vests, capes, and shirt yokes. Use for fairly large areas of color with or without contrasting outlining.	Have beads all going in the same direction for consistent texture and shine when filling in. For the outer edge, use a contrasting color for an outline. Black shows up colors best. If a border is being made, outlining in black may be unnecessary. Trim and riggon can also be used to define the outer edge. For large pieces, I often make them separately on a backing or foundation. To attach them, I employ velcro or hand sew the entire piece on the garment with a running stitch for easy removal and cleaning or packing.
Trim	A contrasting or matching color to the overall design by using a geometric or repeating design.	It may be easier to make the trim separately and sew it on by hand or machine. Heavyweight grosgrain ribbon handles beaded patterns well, but you may want to sew a double thickness to protect the side with the knots or add a lining to that edge later.
Sparkle for Flash	Catching the eye.	This can be achieved on plain or matte fabric using matching or contrasting gold and silver bugles or seeds. Experiment to understand how light catches and highlights beads for a subtle versus a dramatic sparkly effect. This is why gold or silver beads on black velvet is always a winner. For a more understated but very eye-catching effect, try shiny black or black iris beads on black velvet.
Repetitive Designs	Lending qualities to following fabric patterns, creating texture on plain or solid fabrics, reinforcing a particular motif throughout a garment, and drawing the eye towards a particular vertical or horizontal balance point.

Cutting Beads

When you need a bead to be a particular length to match the edges of a design exactly, use a triangular or jeweler's file. This take practice, but it is worth the effort.

Use one edge of the file.
Hold the bead securely.
Scratch a little notch onto one side of the bead.
Carefully grasp the bead with both hands, a hemostat, or grasper of some sort to hold one side of the bead.
Break it in two.

Designing a Pattern

For pattern pieces that will become part of a larger whole, such as yokes, sleeves, or cuffs, completing the beadwork is often easier before the pieces are attached.

Draw or trace your design on paper. Do not worry about it being to scale. I usually start with a scribble of the large areas of the design.
Mark or sew darts, seam allowances, and any other sewing marks before beading.
Transfer your design to fabric using chalk or white acrylic fabric paint. If you cannot draw well, tracing is fine.
For machine sewing, stay at least 1 to 2 mm further inside the marked allowances.

Adjunct Techniques

You can use sequins, trim, and fabric paint to highlight or blend with beading to create a more "dimensional" effect. I use a layered technique:

Design the pattern.
Sew on strung sequins by machine. Strung sequins lie flat, so beads can be easily added.
Complete the beadwork.
Add trim - usually by hand - or fabric paint (the squeeze kind).
Add fringe or edge beading.