Even-count peyote stitch for beginners

What you need

• Size 11/0 cylinder beads in the colours of your pattern
• Beading thread and a size 10 or 12 beading needle
• A stop bead (any contrasting bead)
• A bead mat, small scissors and a clasp

How peyote is built

In peyote, each new row adds a bead in every other position, sitting in the gaps of the row below. This makes the beads interlock like bricks turned on their side, and it is why peyote charts are drawn with columns offset by half a bead. In even-count peyote, the band is an even number of beads wide, which keeps every turn identical.

Step by step

1. Add a stop bead: thread about a metre and a half of thread, string one contrasting bead and pass through it again, leaving a 20 cm tail. It stops beads sliding off.

2. String rows 1 and 2: following the chart or word chart, string all the beads listed for rows 1 and 2, for example 12 beads for a band 12 wide. Our word charts list them from the right-hand end of the chart’s top line, so the last bead strung is the left one and row 3 works from left to right.

3. Row 3: pick up the first bead of row 3, skip the last bead you strung, and pass through the next bead. Pick up the next bead, skip one, pass through the next. Continue to the end. The beads pop up into a zig-zag, and you can now see rows 1, 2 and 3.

4. Turn and continue: for each new row, pick up a bead and pass through the next “up” bead of the row below. The new bead sits in the gap.

   With an odd number of beads across, one edge has no “up” bead to turn on, so every other row needs an odd-count turn there (with our word charts, the right-hand end of Row 3 and of every later odd row, on the side where the tail hangs): you weave the thread through a few edge beads of the rows below and back out of the new bead, so it is in place to start the next row. Several versions of this turn exist; any beading book or tutorial that shows odd-count peyote will have one. Our word charts flag this; an even width (as in all our library bracelets) avoids it.

5. Remove the stop bead after a few rows and keep the tail for the clasp.

Reading the word chart makes this easy: it lists the colours and counts for each row in order, so you never have to count squares on the grid.

Tension

Firm, even tension makes a smooth band. Hold the work between thumb and finger, and pull the thread snug after each bead but not so hard that the band curls. If the first rows feel floppy, they firm up as more rows are added.

Adding thread

When about 15 cm of thread remains, weave it back through the beads in a zig-zag path, following the existing thread, and trim. Start a new thread a few rows back, weave through to exit from the last bead, and carry on. Never tie knots in the open; they show and can come undone.

Finishing a bracelet

1. Measure the band against your wrist, allowing for the clasp.
2. At each end, weave the thread to the centre bead and stitch the clasp loop on securely, passing through it several times.
3. Weave the tails back into the band and trim.

Here is how many rows and beads common bracelet sizes take, worked out the way our charts do:

Band length excludes the clasp. Our charts assume 11/0 cylinder beads about 1.6 mm across and 1.3 mm long, and 190 beads a gram, within the 175–200 a gram suppliers quote for Delica 11/0.

Each column adds about 1.3 mm to the width and each chart row about 1.6 mm to the length, so the length you want sets the rows and the width you want sets the columns. Buy a little extra of each colour; cylinder beads vary slightly and a few always go astray.

Designing your own

The peyote pattern maker turns any image into an offset chart with a word chart and bead counts; the peyote pattern library has bracelets to start with. Brick stitch, the same weave rotated, makes earrings and is available as a setting in the editor.