Rainbow and clouds fuse bead pattern

About this design

The rainbow is six single-bead stripes, each one following the stripe outside it step for step: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Light Blue and Pastel Lavender. Thin, even stripes like this give that seventies sticker look. Each end disappears into a puffy White cloud with two bumps on top and a Light Grey base, and a dip of lavender peeks out between the bumps as if the rainbow carries on behind the cloud. The whole design is mirror-symmetric.

Bead counts: 29 White, 96 Black, 31 Red, 25 Orange, 24 Light Grey, 23 Yellow, 21 Green, 21 Light Blue and 21 Pastel Lavender.

Placing the beads

At 29 × 18 it spans the full width of a large square pegboard, so line the left edge up with the first column of pegs. Do the black outer arch first, then each stripe in order from the outside in. If a stripe ever comes out one bead too long, it is almost always because the stripe outside it was off by one, so check against the chart after every colour. Add the clouds last.

Ironing and finishing

An adult should iron the piece, on medium heat under ironing paper. The two clouds are only joined by the arch, so do not lift the piece by one cloud until both sides are fused and cool. Iron the back, then let it cool flat under a heavy book. Finished, it is about 14.5 × 9 cm. It looks great on a bedroom wall, on a pin board or as a gift tag for a rainy-day present.

Colour plan

Perler 80-19001 White does the most work, 30% of the 374 beads, followed by Perler 80-19018 Black at 26%. Every colour is used at least 21 times, so there are no tiny one-off details to hunt for. 28% of the grid is left empty.

Working notes

All the beads touch along a full side, so it irons into one solid piece.