This week I am going to show you how to do Tubular Herringbone. This stitch is not a variant of Peyote like the others I have presented. It is, however, a relatively easy weave to do, once you understand how. Herringbone is also known as Ndebele.

First up you need some supplies. I would recommend when learning to do this weave that you use fairly evenly sized seed beads, I am using 11/o Delicas. You will also need a beading needle and some conditioned beading thread.

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The beginning of Herringbone is normally a ladder of beads. So string 4 beads onto your thread, leaving a tail long enough to weave back in when you finish off. Then take your needle up through the first and second beads added.

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Pull the thread up firmly, so that the beads sit in a pairs next to each other. Then pick up two seed beads and take the needle through the 1st and 2nd beads added again.

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Pull the thread through firmly, then take the needle back through the beads just added, effectively making a circle of thread through the four beads. Then pick up another two beads and take the thread back through the 5th and 6th beads added, in the same way as you did in the step before.

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Then take the thread back up through the two beads you just added. Continue adding two beads at a time in the same manner, circling clockwise for one pair and anticlockwise for the next, until you have 8 pairs.

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We are now going to make our ladder into a tube. Take your needle and thread down through the two beads on the opposite end of the ladder.  Then bring it back up through the last two beads added, forming the ladder into a circle.

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Now we have are base, we can begin the Herringbone proper.
Pick up two seed beads, then take the needle down through the bead to the left of the one the thread is coming out of. Pull the thread through firmly and settle the two beads next to each other on top of the ladder base.

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Then take the needle up through the next bead to the left on the base row. This brings you into position to add your next two beads, which you add in exactly the same way.

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Continuing added two beads at a time around the tube until you reach the start of the row.  At this point you need to take the needle up through the top bead of the base ladder row and the first bead added on this row. This brings the needle to the correct position for the next row. This is similar to the 'stepping up' process in Peyote. You can then continue to add pairs of beads in the same way, going down through one bead in the row below, then up through the next bead to the left, then 'stepping up' at the end of the row.

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The top of the tube takes on a sort of split look, with each stack of bead pairs sitting slightly apart. Each row you add pulls the row before together. You may find it easier to work on a form, which not only gives you something to hold on to, but holds the tube in shape.

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After a few rows it is clear to see the pattern that gives Herringbone its name.

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To end off your Tubular Herringbone, step up at the end of the row as if to start a new row. Then take the needle down through two beads to the RIGHT of where the thread is coming out. (You have been working to the left - so you are changing the direction you are working.) Then come up through the next two beads to the right.

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Continue around the tube, going down through two and up through two beads until you reach the start again. When you reach the last pair, go down through the two beads at the start of the row and then back up through the last two beads to form a circle, just like making the ladder. You can then weave your thread through your work and secure as you normally would.

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And now you have accomplished Tubular Herringbone. It works wonderfully as a rope for a necklace or bracelet, or in small sections as bead tubes.

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I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. Next week I will show you a variation of Tubular Herringbone where we introduce a twist.



Tubular Herringbone Tutorial
16 May 2010, 6:22 am
Source: Jennifer Mercer, Handmade News Columnist
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