hello I'm Hannah with The Bead Shop in Nottingham and today I'm going to show
you the basics of square stitch. To demonstrate today I'm going to be using
size 8 Delica beads although size 11 also work. Delica beads are good
for bead weaving because of the flat sides they sit really nicely next to
each other so they sit more like bricks as opposed to seed beads with curved
edges which can sit slightly askew but seed beads do also work I'm also using a
size 10 beading needle today the beading needles I am using are flex wire
beading needles by Beadsmith although other beading needles also work just
make sure your beading needle fits through the beads that you're using I'm
using Nymo beading thread today which comes in a wide variety of colours which
is very useful for square stitch as your thread is seen down the sides of your
work so ideally you want to thread that matches your beads but I've chosen a
contrasting one today so it's easy for you to see and also to start with a lot
of people use a stopper bead on the end but I'm actually going to be using a
bead stopper today which is also by Beadsmith so I'm leaving a bit of a tail
on the end about 10cm tail so I can sew my ends in and then I'm
just going to pop my bead stopper on this just stops any beads flying off the
end so to start a square stitch project the first row is incredibly easy all it
is is picking up the number of beads in your first row so I'm going to go for 7
today so I'm going to pick up 7 teal beads and I'm just going to thread that
down to my bead stopper and now you can see why it's important to have a bead
stopper because I didn't have that there they would just all fly off the end of my
thread and I'd have to start all over again!
so to start your second row I guess it technically is put your first row of
square stitch I'm going to pick up a bead so I'm just picking up a purple
bead make sure you're following the pattern that you're using so the thread
is coming out of the bottom of this bead here so I'm going to go in through the
top
and pull that through so my two beads are sat directly next to each other
and then I'm going to go back through that purple bead I just added like so
and once again you're going to pick up another bead the first couple of rows
are a bit fiddly because your beads are all loose but once you attach the second
row is starts to get a bit firmer so I'm picking up that bead I'm going back
through towards that last bead we added on and then back down through the purple
bead
and so I'm going to pick up another purple bead and I'm going up through my
next bead I'm finishing that circle round by going down through the purple
one and I'm just going to repeat this pattern until I've got to the end of my
row
once you've attached that first row your foundation row isn't going to go
anywhere so you can take your bead stopper out and you'll see that your
work is very secure what some people like to do to further stabilise their
work is to put the needle through all of the first row there then go back down
through all of the second row that just brings them together and further
stabilises it slightly now I'm going to show you how to decrease using square
stitch it's very simple to do so how I like to do it if I say I want to
decrease by one bead on this side I go down through the row below through a
couple of the beads and then I go back towards myself through just one of the
beads and now you're ready to start adding your next row so you pick up one
bead you go in the top of that purple bead like that pulling it through and
then pulling the needle, go back through that bead above pick up another one, down
towards myself and then up away from myself through the bead we just added
and continue
and that's decreased row done there. You'll see that I would have that I have
decreased this row by two beads and so say we want to increase it by one bead
again so I'm just going to pick up my purple bead flip my work over so I'm
always working towards myself although you can work however you feel
comfortable and increasing is slightly more complicated than decreasing
decreasing is the easy one so I've picked up my purple bead, I'm going into the top of
that teal bead towards myself and then away from myself through that
purple bead, pick up another purple bead, go towards myself through the teal bead
and away from myself through the purple bead and continue the rest of the row
as before
so now this is a slightly confusing part. So now you need to pick up the bead that
you'd like to add on and also the bead of the colour of the row above. So as I'm
alternating picking up a teal bead as well
when threading that down and so now I'm going away from myself through that
purple bead and bring it down so it meets the work and then back towards
myself with the teal bead
and then I need to switch my work around again and so then to then increase on
this side because I see that we haven't done that yet you need to complete this
row as well so picking up a tea bead going through that next next purpley
towards myself to your bead away from myself and I'm just going to continue
the rest of this row so I finished off this teal row now I'm ready to increase
both on the teal row and also the purple row so I'm going to pick up the
colour of the row that I just did which is teal, the colour of the row below which
is purple and thread that down. And then I'm going to go back through that teal
one away from myself and scoot that down. Then you'll see that this isn't
quite isn't attached yet to the rest of the row so I'm going to go through the
purple and then through a couple more next to it and pull that nice and tight
and then go above through the bead directly above it and back through the
rest of the three beads and there we go square stitch does eat up a lot of
thread you want to inevitably have to fasten it off and join it back on again
so how I fasten off the thread is you simply sew back through your work being
sure to follow the pattern of the beads so thread isn't exposed in the middle of
your work and then once you've done that a few times snip off the excess
like so and that's the basics of square stitch