Here’s a quick tutorial to show you how to get started with twisted herringbone stitch.
Make a row of ladder stitch using pairs of beads like this…
Form a ring by stitching through up through the 1st pair, down through the last pair and then back through the 1st pair again. You should have your tail thread and working thread coming out of opposite sides of the same stack like this…
Pick up the colours for your first pair and pass the needle down through the adjacent bead…
Bring the needle up through the next adjacent bead like this…
Repeat with the second pair of beads and step up through 2 beads…
What you’ve done so far is regular tubular herringbone. If you keep going in this way, stepping up through 2 beads at the end of each row, you’ll end up with a straight tube. Here’s how you get it to twist…
Repeat for the next row, picking up your 2 pairs as usual but at the end of the row you’ll be stepping up through 3 beads instead of the usual 2…
At the end of the next row you’ll be stepping up through 4 beads instead of the usual 2…
From this point onwards you step up through 4 beads at the end of every row. You may notice a little bit of thread showing during the first few rows, this is normal and won’t be too noticeable if you keep your tension tight while it’s starting to twist.
Don’t forget to check out issue 23 of Bead when you can learn how to make my Diva earrings using this technique ;)
Wow, you started the stitch tutorials!:-) Just a quick hi, been completely zapped by the heat but I WILL reply to the email in the next few days. Love the nailvarnish by the way! Take care and talk soon. Maria x
Thanks Liz! Really clear photos and instructions :-)
Wow been looking for a spiral herringbone tutorial and this is great – very easy to read/follow! Recognise your name from Etsy which is nice :o) Thank you!!
One question about the tutorial (which is great, btw). The line that starts “Repeat for the next row, picking up your 2 pairs…” Does this mean you now start picking up TWO pairs or was that a typo? Thanks.
Glad you guys are finding it useful :)
Hi Sally, it’s not really a typo, more unclear wording on my part I think! I probably should have said ‘adding your two pairs’. It just means that you carry on picking up the same amount of beads that you did for the previous rows :)