More about those beads

Deb Lacativa asked about the fabric beads I made this weekend. There's an article on making fabric beads in the Spring 2003 issue of Quilting Arts and there's also some information in Raising the Surface by Maggie Grey (I would like to be Maggie Grey when I grow up). I'm getting increasingly bad at just following the directions, so here's how I made mine:

I grabbed a pile of scraps. Those long narrow strips you cut off to get a straight edge on your fabric work really well. Odd shaped scraps work well too, especially if they are wider at one end. I took varying widths of fabrics and cut them into approx. 2 inch lengths. I wrapped the lengths around a size G crochet hook. For the odd shaped scraps, I started at the wide end so you can see the layers, sort of like a crescent roll. I used a glue stick on the last 1/4 inch or so of each piece to stick the fabric together so it wouldn't unroll. Then just slide the bead off and throw it in a bowl with the rest of them. Then I drizzled paint on them, as shown in the picture below. I will probably go back and wrap some embroidery thread around them to add some texture. But I think they look cool like they are, so if the whole embroidery thread wrapping business makes me cuss, I'll stop and leave them alone.