Tangled Thread

how to of the day: fabric covered beads

by Chloe on January 18th, 2008

It’s so much fun having friends who send me interesting links :-)  Karen sent me a link to a how-to on Froo*gal’s blog, of her version of fabric-covered wooden beads.

I decided to try it myself - and quickly ran into a snag.  I only had a few wooden beads, and they’re all small ones.  I didn’t really want to drive 20 minutes to the closest craft store, so I’m using small beads.  I’d definitely recommend using a larger bead (and inch across or more) - the small beads are quite fiddly to use.

Here’s what you’ll need to do this project:

White glue, strips of fabric (approximately twice as wide as your beads), wooden beads and a paintbrush.  I also used a knitting needle to poke the ends of the fabric into the beads, but you can also use the end of the paintbrush.

Start off with brushing a strip of glue around the widest part of the bead.  Wrap the fabric strip all the way around the bead, and trim, leaving a overlap of approximately 1/8″.  Cut the fabric into a “fringe” on the top and bottom.  Cutting the fabric every 1/4″ will allow you to push it into the bead hold more easily. Now take your paintbrush & glue and brush the wrong side of one fringe.  Either take a knitting needle or the end of the paintbrush and push the fabric into the center of the bead, smoothing it down.  Repeat all the way around the bead, until it looks like this:

This is what the center of the bead looks like with the fringe cut, but not glued down:

Repeat the same steps on the other side of the bead.

Here are three finished beads - you can see how small they are!  I think I may use a sealer or a coat of Mod Podge to protect the fabric when the glue is all dried.

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