8 Bead Embroidery Supplies Every Beginner Needs
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Here are the top 8 supplies you’ll need in order to hand bead your own T-shirt or top:
Needles; this assortment pack is great if this is your first time beading. You’ll get a variety of sizes and lengths.
Embroidery Hoop Pack; again, variety is great to have on hand depending on the size of your design.
Heat Erasable Pens; to draw your design onto the water soluable stabilizer.
Beads (make sure beads are size 10 or larger to pass through the eye of needle). My favorite brands are Miyuki and Celosa glass beads. I buy everything almost exclusively from Fire Mountain Gems.
Thread; general polyester thread is fine.
Design; this part is up to you! Print something out, draw something, etc!
T-shirt or something you want to bead (like a tote bag or hat)
There are all great tools to have on hand to begin your beading journey! My biggest hurdle when starting to bead was understanding bead size in relation to my needle. Not all beads will pass through your eye and that can be super frustrating after you’ve purchased them.
Make sure you are buying quality beads! Beads listed as either dyed, coated or waxed need to be tested for colorfastness before using. Imagine spending hours on a design only to find that your beads have bled all of your white tank top! You can test the colorfastness of any bead by laying it between a wet towel and gently rubbing together to see if there is color transfer.
Bead sizes get bigger in size and smaller in number on a chart! Start with size 10 or 8s (8s have larger hole sizes than 10s).
There are two types of stabilizers because once you wash the water soluble stabilizer off the top of your design, you need a sturdy backed stabilizer to keep your design from sagging or threads coming loose. It’s an added layer of protection!
Happy Beading!