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Tips on spiral Ropes

How to add a Square Stitch Lead

This section will concentrate on how to add a small length of square stitch to the end of a spiral rope. Why would one want to do this? to facilitate adding a closure. Square stitch is very strong because of all the repeated entries into the beads. In peyote and in brick stitch you enter each bead twice unless you are adding or ending a thread. Even without reinforcing in square stich you enter each bead three times. The end sectioon of the necklace next to the closure or clasp takes the most strain of any other part of the necklace. By adding the lead and attaching the closure there, if there is a breakage next to the clasp, you break the lead not the whole end section of the spiral rope. The square stitch form a flat, straight edge that is easier to attach a clasp or button and loop closure. In a spiral rope there are two kinds of beads: the core (that the thread enters 4 or 5 times) and the shell beads (entered only once unless reinforced). This spiral rope pictured below is like most of the ones I make with 6/0 or 8/0 seed for the core uses 5 11/0 seeds in each loop or cycle of the shell beads.

1.

This shows what the end looks likewhen you are finsishned with the spiral rope. The shell beads (red) are actually tilted about 45 degrees from the core ones(grey), but that would have been al lot harder to draw. The turquiose thread is the thread used to make the spiral rope. Xs indicate where a knot is.

2.

OK, we tie on a new thread on the middle row of shell beads(any row would do). Emerge and add on 6 new black beads that will be the basis of the square stitch. if you were going to sew a button on you would need to add more that 5 beads. You would need to add a long enough row of beads to equal the diameter of the button.

3.

Because of the angle at the end you need to square stitch 5 beads in the next row to the 6 you added before. I am not including directions for square stitch here, but it has come to may attention that there are a lot more tutorials for peyote on the web than brick or square stitch. Carol Wilcox Welles Creative Beadweaving has a section on square stitch,but I usually leave out the reinforcing part she puts in. I learned square stitch from Bead and Button #10 (August 1995), p31 (by Frieda Bates).

4.

You can see from here that another row of square stitch was added to the first two. The row with the core beads in it tends to not angle as much as the rows of the shell beads so that i usually add the same number of beads to the row as previous one. I usually use a lead with 4 rows of square stitch in it. You can add a loop to the end if you are using a look and button/bead closure. You can tie off the end into one of the rows of shell beads.

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	1. This shows what the end looks likewhen you are finsishned with the spiral rope. The shell beads (red) are actually tilted about 45 degrees from the core ones(grey), but that would have been al lot harder to draw. The turquiose thread is the thread used to make the spiral rope. Xs indicate where a knot is.
	2. OK, we tie on a new thread on the middle row of shell beads(any row would do). Emerge and add on 6 new black beads that will be the basis of the square stitch. if you were going to sew a button on you would need to add more that 5 beads. You would need to add a long enough row of beads to equal the diameter of the button.
	3. Because of the angle at the end you need to square stitch 5 beads in the next row to the 6 you added before. I am not including directions for square stitch here, but it has come to may attention that there are a lot more tutorials for peyote on the web than brick or square stitch. Carol Wilcox Welles Creative Beadweaving has a section on square stitch,but I usually leave out the reinforcing part she puts in. I learned square stitch from Bead and Button #10 (August 1995), p31 (by Frieda Bates).
	4. You can see from here that another row of square stitch was added to the first two. The row with the core beads in it tends to not angle as much as the rows of the shell beads so that i usually add the same number of beads to the row as previous one. I usually use a lead with 4 rows of square stitch in it. You can add a loop to the end if you are using a look and button/bead closure. You can tie off the end into one of the rows of shell beads.