Beading Techniques 2: Twist Line

Continuing from last week, you will see how to do beading in this article.

Because…we can never have enough sparkling on our costumes 😉

If you missed last week’s article on how to make short and long lines with beads, check out from here:

Beading Technique 1: Single Line

In this video, you will see how to make a twist line, which is really useful in decorating your belly dance costume. It’s my go-to technique for finishing edges of bra tops, belts and appliques. So let’s get started.

So you need the same materials for beading a twist line.

Beads of your choice – I use seed beads and sequins in this video.

Beading needle

Beading thread

For more information on these materials, see the first beading video.

How to do beading in a Twist Line

So once you thread your needle and make a knot, take your needle through from below the fabric, and go in and out a couple of times to make it secure. It helps if you have a line to follow along for this one. I use the edge of the felt as guidance.

Pick up some beads. Here, I use 5 beads at a time.

Then place the string of beads at an angle loosely. It’s about 1 bead length away from the line you’re following. And take your needle through.

After that, bring your needle back up from the guiding line, close to the bead in the middle in the first 5 beads.

Then pick up 5 more beads, place it at an angle, put your needle through. And repeat.

*Key here is to keep the tension of the thread loose, and try to give each set of 5 beads some arch. This makes the twist look.

This twist line technique is used often in belly dance costumes. You can use it to frame stones, frame the entire applique. Here, I use 2 black seed beads, 1 white seed bead, and 2 more black seed beads to create the twist line, and the one along the rhinestones is just black seed beads of 2 different sizes (3 large and 3 small).

Or, add a sequin before you put beads to make this kind of look…

I used this to frame this applique.

And the same technique here, except that this is in a circle. I love this look, because it looks like a flower.

And for this style, I just added bugle beads in the mix and created a twist line along the edge.

And of course, you can use it along the edge of your bra top and belt to give it a nice, professional finish.

Play around with seed beads, sequins and bugle beads, different sizes and colours of beads to create different looks.

I hope you liked this technique, and if you try it, please share a photo on Sparkly Belly’s Facebook page. Next week, I will show you some simple ways to use more sequins.

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Thanks for reading, and keep sparkling!

P.S. Share or pin this photo below 🙂