Last week we showed you how to make a strip of ladder stitch and this week we'll be using that strip as a starting base for herringbone. Herringbone stitch is one of my top three stitches and very easy to do once you learn the technique. I remember the first time I tried this stitch, I was amazed at how the beads lean toward each other so neatly to look almost like knitted stocking stitch. First of all you need your ladder stitch base which for the purposes of this tutorial should be an even number of columns. I'm starting with a base of 8 columns, 2 beads high. You can start from a single row of beads but the double row is much easier to hold on to when you begin stitching. With the thread coming out of a bead at the end of the row, pick up 2 beads and sew down through the adjacent bead... Then sew back up through the next bead... Pick up 2 more beads and sew down through the next bead, then back up through the next... Continue in this way until you reach the end of the row. You'll see that the thread ends in the wrong place for starting a new row so you need to make a little maneouver to get the thread into the correct position. Sew up through the adjacent bead... and then sew up through the last bead you added... Continue as before, adding your pairs of beads to the pairs in the previous row and making the turn at the end of each row... When you've finished your strip of herringbone you'll want to finish off the end so that the beads are joined together rather than separated into pairs. The thread path is exactly the same as ladder stitch. Sew down through the second bead... and up through the third... Sew back down through the second bead again... and back up through the third... Continue in this way, stitching each bead to it's neighbours. Finish off by weaving both your threads into the beadwork and trim. Or rather than trim them, you may want to use the threads to attach a button and loop to make a bracelet as I've done here. For this one I've used hex beads. And here I've used a blue and green mix of size 11s and attached the strip of herringbone to an aluminium cuff that I first covered with Ultrasuede. A perfect base for this huge button! Well I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial. There's so much things you can do with this stitch so I hope you'll continue to explore it and wish you many adventures in herringbone!
