How to Sew a Bead Rope – Twisted Line Bead Embroidery Technique

What about belly dance costumes caught your eye at first?

The sparkles? The fringe?

For me, the intricate bead embroidery is one of the first things that attracted me to belly dance costumes.

One of the most popular beading techniques you see on professional belly dance costumes is something that looks like a beaded rope or a twisted line of beads, so I often call it the Twist Line technique.

In this video, you’ll see how to create this look yourself. Let’s get started!

How to Sew a Bead Rope

So first, draw a line that you want to create the beaded rope line along. 

Send your needle out right at the beginning of the line, and pick up some seed beads. I’m using size 8 seed beads here, and picking up 7 beads. 

Then hold the thread and try to create a small arch with the strand of beads. Place the end right on the line, and the height of the arch should be about the height of 1 seed bead that you’re using. So that’s where you should send your needle down.

Next, send the needle back up right in the middle of the arch on the line. 

Pick up 7 more seed beads, and make an arch, and send the needle back down.

Send the needle back up right next to the first strand, and repeat the steps.

And you’ll have a nice, twisted line made of beads! Key is to always send the needle right on the line you first drew, and keep the height of the arch consistent. This creates a beautiful beaded rope. 

You can follow the same steps along a curved line. Here, instead of drawing a line, I’m following the line created by the rhinestone chain. So my guiding line here is the outline of the rhinestone chain. 

This technique is perfect for decorating edges of your costume straps, bra cups, belt and skirt waistband. If you’re decorating stretch material like a waistband, be sure to check out my tutorial on that very topic.

And it’s also great for decorating outlines of appliques for your costumes. By the way, if you want to make your very own lotus applique with your favorite beads and learn more bead embroidery techniques, I’ve created and added a bonus lesson on how to make this design to my Applique Making course!

Besides this Lotus design, you can learn to create a whole bunch of versatile applique designs to incorporate to your next costume!

If you’re curious, check it out at SparklyBelly.com/applique

Thanks for reading, and keep sparkling!

P.S. Pin this image on your bead embroidery board! 🙂

Like what you read? Want to make more costuming bits yourself?

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