Beaded Ornament Cover

I adapted this beaded ornament cover from instructions I received from Pamela Welbourn, who has allowed me to post it here for you. Though her original design differs a little from this, I basically used her instructions and just changed the end some to add the dangling teardrops. Pamela also have numerous projects posted on the Jewelry Crafts web site and in their printed publication as well. You can see more of her work, along with some handy bead tutorials, on her web site.

I’ve mad e a lot of these ornament covers. Because they use a simple net stitch, they work up quickly and even a beginning seed beader can be successful in making these.

Materials Needed:

10 grams 11° of Color A Japanese Seed Beads
5 grams 11° of Color B Japanese Seed Beads
10 side drilled tear drop beads
Size 0 pre-waxed thread
Size 10 needle
scissors
clear nail polish

ROW 1 - Add beads: 3 of A and 1 of B for a total of 10 sections of 3 of A and 1 of B. Make a circle and tie a knot. Leave about a 6 in. tail.

Go through a couple sections to begin away from the knot. End coming out of a B bead. (To make it easier to see, I’ve gone ahead and woven in my tail. You will need to do this eventually also.)

ROW 2 - For each section, add beads: 3 A - 1 B - 3 A and go through the next B bead in row #1. Do this until you have 10 sections. End coming out of section of the newly added row - a B bead in this case.

ROW 3 - For each section, add beads: 4 A - 1 B - 4 A and go through the next B bead in row #2. Do this until you have 10 sections. End coming out of bead #5 in any section of the newly added row a B bead in this case.

ROW 4 - For each section, add beads: 4 A - 5 B - 4 A and go through the next center point bead in row #3. Do this until you have 10 sections. End coming out of bead #7 in any section of the newly added row - a B bead in this case.

ROW 5 - For each section, add beads: 2 B - 9 A - 2 B and go through the next center point bead in row #4. Do this until you have 10 sections. End coming out of bead #7 in any section of the newly added row - an A bead in this case.

ROW 6 - For each section, add beads: 4 A - 3 B - 5 A - 3 B - 4 A and go through the next center point bead in row #5. Do this until you have 10 sections. End coming out of bead #10 in any section of the newly added row - a B bead in this case.

ROW 7 - For each section, add beads: 9 A - 7 B - 9 A and go through the next center point bead in row #6. Do this until you 10 sections. End coming out of bead #13 in any section of the newly added row - a B bead in this case.

ROW 8 - For each section, add beads: 3 B - 6 A - a tear drop bead - 6 A - 3 B and go through the next center point bead in row #7. Do this until you have 10 sections. End coming out of bead #10 in any section of the newly added row - a B bead in this case.

Weave in thread into finished piece. To finish off and reinforce, use clear nail polish and dab drops over knots and spots where you weave the thread back in. Though tear drop beads look nice, you can also use crystal beads or even skip adding the accent bead and continue with seed beads.

All graphics created by Tammy Powley.

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