Thursday, April 22, 2010

Bead Fabric

Bead fabric is one of the terms I've heard used to describe beadweaving, and it fits. Sewing hundreds or thousands of beads together with a needle and thread (or on a loom) yields something that can resemble fabric in the way it looks and feels.

Even though I don't sew any more, I still have a pretty sizable stash of fabric. Some of it is 20-30 years old, but I just can't bear to part with it. It was while I was going through one of the boxes that I came across a gorgeous piece of turquoise fabric with a wonderful drape. I pulled it out of its box and put it down in a little "puddle" and was immediately inspired to create a bracelet pattern from it.

Here's one of the photos I took of the fabric:


And here's the bracelet it inspired: Seafoam Fabric


The color is different, but I chose something in the same color family - teal and seafoam.

The result is very abstract, but I'm quite pleased with it. The beads I used for this version all have different finishes: transparent silver-lined, opaque, silver-lined frost, and transparent.

I think there will be more colors using this design... any suggestions?

1 comment:

Rose Clearfield said...

Gorgeous! I love turquoise, but I think it could be really neat in green, too.