About the Free Tutorial on the Chenille Stitch

Today’s beading tutorial on the Chenille Stitch came about because I wanted to come up with a way to show off the 2Tiny™ Fire Polished Beads. I tend to like to design statement pieces. However, I wouldn’t want to wear one everyday or for every occasion. Plus there are times when you want the focus to be more on the person, than on what the person is wearing. One example is a bride. I would prefer that someone would say to me, how beautiful the bride is versus how beautiful the item the bride is wearing is. The 2Tiny fire polished beads adds bling without overpowering.

Chenille Stitch Introduction

The chenille stitch to me is a modified herringbone stitch. It is similar to the herringbone stitch for two reasons. The first reason is that you start with a ladder stitch base. The second reason is that you pick up two beads at a time. However, on alternating rows you pick up one bead. This is why I think of it as a modified herringbone stitch.

Chenille Stitch Uses

The stitch works up nicely as a chain. If you are new to beading you could slip it onto a necklace base, like the one in the photo. Or, you could create you own base using wire. The same approach would work for a bracelet.

Chenille Stitch Tutorial

Materials

2mm 2Tiny™ Fire Polished Beads

11/0 Czech Seed Beads

Spiral Variation

2mm 2Tiny™ Fire Polished Beads

11/0 Czech Seed Beads

8/0 Czech Seed Beads

How to do the beaded Chenille Stitch

Note

If you are new to beading then, you might find the post on the tubular herringbone stitch helpful. Just click on the text below the heading related link.

Create a ladder stitch base using 11/0 seed beads.

Pick up four seed beads. Pass through all beads again, creating two columns of two beads. Pick up two seed beads and pass the needle through two seed beads from the prior step and the beads you just picked up. Repeat util you have a total of six columns of two beads. You join the ends together by passing the needle though the first two seed beads picked up and then back through the last two beads picked up. Pass the needle again so that the thread that has the needle on it is on the opposite side as the tail.

Round 1: Work one round of tubular herringbone stitch. Pick up two seed beads. Pass the needle down through the second bead and up through the third bead. Work two more stitches. Step up by passing up through two seed beads.

Round 2: Pick up one fire polished bead and pass through the next two seed bead. Repeat two more times. After the third time step up by passing through the first fire polished bead picked up in this round.

Round 3: Pick up two seed beads and pass through the next fire polished bead. Work a total of three stitches. Step up after the third stitch by passing the needle through the first seed bead picked up in this round.

Round 4: Repeat rounds two and three until you have achieve the desired length. If you want the ends to match, then work two rounds of tubular herringbone using the seed beads.

Spiral Variation—worked with 8/0 Blue bead

The spiral is created by picking up two different colored seed beads instead of a pair of the same colored beads. Otherwise, it is worked exactly the same as described above. The fire polished bead will be placed between the two different colored seed beads instead of the same colored beads.

Related Link

Tubular Herringbone Tutorial