How to do Even Count Flat Peyote Stitch
About peyote in general - This is how flat peyote looks as you are working on it, row by row:
The beads of each row are not in horizontal alignment. The nature of the stitch, makes them a little bit zig-zaggy, so it is necessary to know how to count rows. Not only to know when you have completed the work piece and are ready to do the seam, but also to be able to follow a peyote stitch pattern.
This is how you count completed rows:
When the work piece is completely finished, you will be turning the work piece 90 degrees:
This will become the Top of the work piece. Now the Top and Bottom have horizontally aligned edges that will fit on the brass tubes. When you shape the work piece around the brass tube, the ‘bead notches' ) those ‘half-like pieces of a bead' that are showing on the left and right of the work piece, will go together like teeth in a zipper. You will thread through them. It will be an unnoticeable seam.
The difference between Odd Count and Even Count Flat Peyote IS NOT the number of completed rows in the pattern/project. The difference is designated by the Number of Beads within EACH of the individual Rows. The length of some of the brass tubes in these project require an odd number of beads per row to completely cover the tube. If you did even count on a project that called for Odd count, about 1/16" of the brass tube would be left showing.
Additional point - On any of these projects, you will always complete an even number of Rows, whether or not the number of beads in Each row is Odd or Even. Having an even number of complete rows is the only way to make an invisible seam for a ‘bead tube'.
Another difference between Odd and Even. In Even count, at the end of each row, there is a bead to anchor to, and a natural pocket is left at the beginning of the next row to insert the first bead. In Odd count, every other row does not have this natural anchor and pocket, and you have to do a loop through some existing beads to have an anchor and pocket. (See Odd Count instructions.)
Cut 3 feet of thread. Like every other stitch, you begin by tying a different color and/or size bead (this gets called the ‘Stop Bead') onto the thread, leaving about a 4 inch tail. Don't tie too tight,(just a couple of overhand knots), you will need to undo this when the project is completed, in order to anchor this thread and finish the ‘seam' in the bead tube.
First, you String On the number of beads that the Pattern calls for. In this example, 6. For this practice it is best to use a different color of bead for each row, to help visually distinguish the rows. In Even Count Flat Peyote, the thread tail is to your left, and the numbering of the beads starts on the left.
At this point,‘flip' the work piece 90 degrees to the right. The ‘Stop Bead' is now on the left-hand side of the work. You then string on another (7th) bead. It will become the first bead of the next row, Row #2.
Skip over bead number 6, and take the needle and thread through bead number 5.
This 7th bead is automatically being flipped upside down to land on top of bead #6, when you pull the thread through bead # 5. You may have to manipulate it with your fingers now, and maybe again later, a little. Beading does not usually look correct until you have finished a couple of rows, and have pulled the thread to an even tension through all the beads. (Some of these diagrams will have spaces just for clarity, so you can see where the thread goes through.) But if it were pulled correctly now, it would look like this:
For this small example, the 7th bead starts the second Row. In your real project, you will, of course, be using more beads per row. Similar to how you strung on bead #7:
String on bead #8, skip bead #4, take needle/thread through bead #3.
String on bead #9 skip bead #2, take needle/thread through bead #1.
Pull thread to tighten a little. You may have to manually push bead number 7 into its place atop bead # 6 to get it to ‘sit' correctly. When tightened you should now look like this:
NOTE: On the first 3 rows of peyote stitch, due to the nature of the stitch, the Thread becomes an ‘axis' around which the beads try to turn/twist. If you are doing a project in a solid color, then this doesn't really matter. But if you are doing a multi-colored pattern, it is essential to manually keep the beads in their proper place on the 3 beginning rows, so they directly match the pattern you are using.
Now we need to learn how to count the rows in peyote stitch. You started by stringing on 6 beads in a nice horizontal row. When you wove in beads 7, 8, and 9, the original horizontal row did a' jumping bean act'. This is the nature of Peyote stitch. You actually now have 3 finished Rows of Peyote stitch.
%%%%Flip work piece horizontally:
String on Bead #10, take needle/thread through bead # 9. Bead # 10 will automatically be ‘flipped' into place atop bead #1 when you go through bead #9 and tighten.
String on bead # 11, take needle/thread through bead # 8.
String on bead #12, take needle/thread through bead # 7. Tightening the thread and beads along the way as necessary. You now have 4 finished rows of peyote.
Flip work piece horizontally:
String on Bead # 13, take needle/thread through bead # 12. Bead # 13 will automatically be ‘flipped' into place.
String on bead # 14, take needle/thread through bead # 11.
String on bead # 15, take needle/thread through bead # 10. You now have 5 complete rows of peyote stitch.
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Now you keep repeating the steps shown between the %%%, and the above -------------------------------- until you have complete the pattern for the project.
Of course, the bead #'s and the Rows #'s will be different.
If you are doing a multi-color pattern, pay attention to which bead color to use with each bead you string on.
Inst. for Closing the seam are on the previous page
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All content (c) Toika Bridges 2000