For several weeks I have been working on a beaded sphere made with twenty triangles. It's easy enough to stitch triangles, even these triangles that use the cellini technique. This is where you gradually increase and then decrease the size of the beads to make a ridge or bubble in the peyote fabric, like this:
Except the example above is done as rectangles.
Joining the triangles was the tricky part. The place where several points came together formed a dip and it was difficult to get the needle into the beads. As long as the sphere was still open I could get my fingers inside and that made it easier.
But, that moment finally arrived when 19 triangles were stitched together and I had to figure out how to get the 20th one in.
A long time ago I remember reading about someone else who had this same problem. Her solution was to add the last piece with an extra long thread so that the thread could be left loose, much like how you undo a few holes of your laces to get your foot into the shoe. This way she could still get her fingers into the space to move the needle into the correct position.
So, I gave it a try.
Did it work? Yes, it did! It took a bit of time but it worked beautifully!
The best part was that no beads broke, the thread didn't break and no needles were harmed in the making of my beaded sphere.
I will remember this trick if I ever get stuck again.
And, since every blog needs a dog...
