While Plains and Plateau tribes are renowned for their beaded horse trappings, Subarctic tribes such as the Dene bead lavish floral dog blankets. Plains tribes are master beaders, and today dance regalia for man and women feature a variety of beadwork styles. During the 20th century the Plateau tribes, such as the Nez Perce perfected contour-style beadwork, in which the lines of beads are stitch to emphasize the pictorial imagery. Great Lakes tribes are known for their bandolier bags, that might take an entire year to complete. In the Great Lakes, Ursuline nuns introduced floral patterns to tribes, who quickly applied them to beadwork. Today a wide range of beading styles flourish. Glass beads have been in use for almost five centuries in the Americas. Native American beadworkĮxamples of contemporary Native American beadworkīeadwork is a quintessentially Native American art form, but ironically uses beads imported from Europe and Asia. Seed beads began to be used for embroidery, crochet, and numerous off-loom techniques. French Beaded Flowers were being made as early as the 16th century, and lampwork glass was invented in the 18th century. Glass beads were being made in Murano by the end of the 14th century. European beadworkīeadwork in Europe has a history dating back millennia, to when shells and animal bones were used as beads in necklaces. Although scarce, there are resources available on the internet which provide 3D animal, heart and jewelry patterns in English. Patterns which can be stitched using 3D beading range from animals, hearts, flowers, and jewelry, to name a few. Right angle weave lends itself better as a technique to 3D beading, but peyote stitch offers the advantage of more tightly knit beads, which is sometimes necessary to properly portray an object in 3 dimensions. Peyote stitch patterns are very easy to depict diagrammatically because they are typically stitched flat and then later incorporated into the piece or left as a flat tapestry. In fact, it is not uncommon for cross stitch patterns to be beaded in peyote stitch technique. In peyote stitch, beads are woven into the piece in a very similar fashion to knitting or cross stitching. The other end of the string is left dangling at the beginning of the piece, while the first end of the thread progresses through the stitch. Peyote stitch is stitched using only one end of the nylon thread. Right angle weave is done using both ends of the fishing line, in which beads are strung in repeated circular arrangements, and the fishing line is pulled tight after each bead circle is made.
On the other hand, nylon thread is more suited to peyote stitch because it is softer and more pliable than fishing line, which permits the beads of the stitch to sit straight without undue tension bending the arrangement out of place. Fishing line lends itself better to right angle weave because it is stiffer than nylon thread, so holds the beads in a tighter arrangement and does not easily break when tugged upon. Both stitches are done using either fishing line (most popular brand: fireline) or nylon thread (most popular brand: nymo). Most 3D beading patterns are done in right angle weave, but sometimes both techniques are combined in the same piece.
However, there are resources available that facilitate this process by offering free instructions on how to draw a 3D beading diagram using free software available from, in the hopes that clearer beading diagrams will allow easier access to 3D beading patterns.ģD beading generally uses the techniques of bead weaving, which can be further divided into right angle weave and peyote stitch. It is a challenge for beading pattern designers to create 2D beading patterns that portray 3D beaded objects. 3D beading is also associated with the stigma of being "too complex" for most beaders to manage, although this sentiment is largely due to the apparent complexity of many oriental beading diagrams. It is mainly an oriental art form, and most 3D beading resources are written in oriental languages, such as Japanese and Chinese, further impeding wide access to English-speaking countries.
Resources are scarce and difficult to find.
Bead knitting on double-pointed knitting needlesģD beading is less common than 2D beading, largely because free 3D beading patterns are not well distributed on the internet.