Beadazzling

So my veil is almost done - I have to re-glue it to the comb, which means finding the comb, which is on the to-do list for week 1 post bar.

I bought 4mm Swarovski crystals and pearls from Artbeads.com. I wound up using white pearls for some of it, but I had only ordered 50 white pearls and 100 creamrose pearls and so I filled in with creamrose. It doesn't look "right" per se, but I didn't want to order more. I spaced them out more on the bottom of the veil - they are only this close together for the first foot or so.

Sewing beads is actually pretty easy, but it looks intimidating. So I wrote you a tutorial, in case you want to try it yourself. Sewing on the rolled edge was nice, because the thread blended in and placement was pretty easy to gauge.

You will need:

-beads of your choice

-a small needle (don't stress, just the smallest one in the pack)

-white thread. if you have a raw edge veil, I'd use clear thread but clear thread is tricky to work with. I used plain white sewing thread and it worked fine.

-scissors

How to bead a veil:

1. Sit on couch, put in a movie. This took me about 2 hours to complete, so I would either pick a favorite tv series you can watch all the way through or put on an epic film.

2. Organize beads. I would use either bowls or some kind of corral - otherwise they will fall all over the place.

3. Thread the needle. You should expect to rethread your needle 3-4 times throughout the process. The length of thread you are using should be no longer than your forearm (doubled over, if you double over). Whether you want to double your thread is strictly personal preference, there are those who use a single thread for this type of project. Don't knot your thread.

4. Pass the needle through the rolled edge and then tie your knot around the rolled edge. Trim any excess.

5. Pass the needle through a bead. Then again through the rolled edge.

6. To space very close together, stitch on another bead. To space pretty far apart, put in a couple more stitches and then stitch on the next bead.