a tapestry to make it into an amulet bag?  I know the basic is to double the beads and do tubular peyote.  I am  thinking of a couple of possible problems--maybe I create them without any cause for them.  I hope so.

I have a pattern that calls for 27 beads in the first row and 26 in the second.  That makes it odd count.  If I doubled that to add in a back it becomes even count.  Is that a problem?  Will it change the way I read the pattern (I'm using the word chart)?

Also, I was going to use black for the back and the background on the front is black.  How do you indicate, or know, when the back ends and the front begins (and it is time to use the pattern)?  I was thinking there is a way without counting beads all the time.  I could use a different color for the first bead on the back when I first begin but as the piece gets bigger it might not help so much.  Like I said, the size isn't huge so perhaps it is no big deal.  But what if it were huge....?

Am I a worry wart or is there a reason to think ahead about this?

Kathy

Hi Kathy,

 You can owrk the back and the front of your amulet bag separately, then sew them up the sides. The beauty of peyote is that you can join two pieces very easily, by "zipping" together the end beads on the two sides. The seam will be completely invisible.

If you want to make the amulet bag in a single piece with flat peyote, do as follows:

 Snip a short length of string, couple of inches and set it aside.

String the number of beads for the first and second rows of one side on a regular length of beading string or whatever you're using.

Take the snippet of string you set aside, and loop it through the last bead strung. The snippet of string will act as a marker to keep track of back and front. Tie a knot and let the ends hang.

String the number of beads for the first and second rows of the second side.

Now you can start working. As the bag gets taller, if you're afraid you won't be able to tell where the front/back stops/starts, you can take a piece of thread and weave it up vertically through the "end" beads which are now in the middle of your work and let the end hang tclose to the row you're working on to keep track. Or you can count. LOL!

Fold the bag in the middle, and zip up the open side.

I suggest you do the amulet bag in flat peyote until you're more familiar with the stitch. Tubular peyote works just fine, but if the bag has a pattern on it, you'll easily run into problems with tubular if you're not extremely familiar with the stitch and how the beads are positioned.

 Hope that helps!

HI there,

 I love making little amulet bags...

 You can follow the tips above, but there are many ways to approach this.

 27 beads, is a little bag, so just zipping up the sides, may be a little tight.  I also like to add a bead in between the zip, so that it adds a little bit of texture to the sides & allows for a little more room in the bag.  (with this method you can keep the 27 beads on both sides)

  (loomed work - Mill Hill Kit)

(peyote - my design - sorry photo is blurry so it's hard to see the beads on the side.)

 In a continuous thread design, if you want to keep your pattern centered on the odd count, you will need to add two more beads as you go around.  (remember the bump up. - so you will have 28 colums on both sides of the bag - making this an even tubular pattern overall)

(this is around 27 beads across also - with an extra column on either side)

 Sometimes, if you start your row from the top & work your way down, the top can be a little tight.  Some beaders like to start with a dummy rows of three beads of an alternate color that won't be used in the design to start out with.  Pick up another thread & start with your actual pattern on the fourth row. When finished with the design, just pick out the first three rows.  (I don't mind the tightness, I just use a smaller needle when I start to add anything around the top.)

Hope these help.  :)

Original Sin,

That is an original name!  thanks for your advice.  See, using a thread is so simple and I couldn't think of it.  I will think about doing flat peyote.  I know I sound like a beginner but I have done three amulet bags (wow!) in tubular peyote.  They just seemed to work at the time.  I need more experience, like you said.  For some reason I have spooked myself out of this--maybe due to the odd count.  But it will become even count with the back, right?

Kathy

Alex,

Wow, thank you for your reply.  You give another view for me to ponder.  I have a few questions.  When you say you add a bead in between the zip do you mean you incorporate it into the peyote stitch, or are you embellishing down the length of the bag (it sort of looks like that on the dragon bag)?  I am a bit confused on your advising going to 28 beads per side.  Doesn't doubling the 27 per side also make it even count?  Your bags are very neat--I can see you do enjoy  them and have experience! 

Kathy

Talkingbird:

Original Sin,

That is an original name!  thanks for your advice.  See, using a thread is so simple and I couldn't think of it.  I will think about doing flat peyote.  I know I sound like a beginner but I have done three amulet bags (wow!) in tubular peyote.  They just seemed to work at the time.  I need more experience, like you said.  For some reason I have spooked myself out of this--maybe due to the odd count.  But it will become even count with the back, right?

Kathy

Hi Kathy,

Thanks for the commnet on my username! I chose it because I use "Original Sin Designs" as a business name. I'm sorry I assumed you weren't extremely familiar with patterned tubular peyote, it must have been the way you phrased your question. Since you want to do this in tubular, I'm going to step aside as Alex is probably the best person to help you through this.

 Alex, your amulet bags are so lovely! The tiny little case-type bag is my favorite - how pretty! Can you carry on with giving Kathy a hand to finish her amulet bag?  I think you can give her better info than myself, to be honest.

 Have a nice evening!

Andréa

Andrea,

Your tips were good, I was just expanding a little.

Thanks for the nice comments.

-

Kathy,

Here are a bunch more images - I took new images of older work. :) ... just click on them if you want to see them larger:

This little bag is 27 across, but I "zipped" up the sides and added a bead as I was going between the two sides. I'm not sure if everyone likes the look, but to me it kind of reminds me how little leather bags are done & I like the contrasting color.

Here is a close up:

This is one of my earlier pieces so it's not the greatest. But hopefully you can see what I did.

This next little bag is also "27 across" for the design, but done with tubular peyote - total beads around 56. I'm not sure what the best way to explain is, but you need to add the extra 28th bead to become the sides for the purse. If your design is odd count, you can't make it tubular & keep the pattern centered. It's all about the brick effect of the peyote design. If you only used 27 beads front & back on a continuous thread, one side will "shift". If your pattern is abstract or off centered, then it probably wouldn't matter if you added the extra bead or not.

ah, just realized what Andrea was probably suggesting.

You could do the entire design with flat peyote 56 beads across & then stitch up the one side only...

The only thing that I would worry about... I forgot to mention that at the bottom of my little purses, I decrease a little bit on the bottom. This helps the bag to not "bulge" with the extra beads. You may already know this, but just in case I thought I would throw that in there.

Andrea, you have been a help!  Thank you.  I still may do this flat.  And I'm going to use the thread hint. 

Alex, thanks for your help.  You've gone to pains to get me to see what you mean.  I better understand it now.  Expecially your side beads you added.  That was clear--creative, too.  I am pretty sure I understand the logic in adding the extra bead to make it 28 per side.  In reading a pattern is the 28th bead just ignored (except to weave it on)?  I suppose it doesn't matter where the extra bead is added--like one could be at the end of the front and the beginning of the back??  Perhaps it would depend upon the pattern and colors.  In my case both will be black so no big deal, right?

One other thing--if I did do it flat would it still need to be 56 beads?  Probably yes since it ultimately becomes a circle.

Maybe the simplest is to get even count patterns!  But then you eliminate anything centered.

Kathy

Kathy

Alex,

I just discovered something.  The image of the pattern has two extra columns on the left and one on the right.  That is the reason for the extra bead?  I need to put it on the right side of the pattern, I take it.

Also, just to confirm--the pattern is 53 wide so it would end up being 53 + 53 + +1 +1 = 108, correct?

Kathy

Yep, you are correct with the math. :)

Here is a quick image I tried to draw up for you:

If you didn't add the extra bead then the pattern wouldn't match up on the sides & the whole thing would shift. (because then it would no longer be offset like what peyote requires.)

I add a comment on my previous post... Only bad thing about the new forum sending messages to your e-mail... it doesn't update any changes.

Also, it looks like you tried to send me a pm, but I couldn't figure out how to retrieve it. :(

Let me know if this helps. You can even do cell phone bags& ID card holders with peyote. I find this stitch to be lot's of fun, although time consuming.

Alex,

I think it just dawned on me.  AHA!  The extra column is because you couldn't sew up the bottom (or two sides) since the up and down beads would be directly opposite each other and not alternating properly?  Something like that, anyway. 

I have thought of a cell phone bag and decided it was a big undertaking right now!  I like the idea of a card holder.  And you could leave the opening the long or the short way for it.  Glasses, cast, too.

Thanks for your help.  I'm going to start on it tonight.

Kathy

Hi All,

Thought I'd give an update on my project as I have learned a few things.  I did add the two extra columns to the piece and began the tube.  One thing I discovered is that the word chart becomes very difficult to read for a couple of reasons--when doing tubular peyote you are always going one way and the pattern reads as if it is done as a flat piece (going right then going left , etc.), and the other thing is that there is a step up in this but not in the pattern, so I finally figured out I could mark that in.  All in all  I am going to finish it and assume it will all work out.  I think next time I will do a pattern flat if that is how it comes and then add a back on after doing it separately.

I assume a lot of you make amulet bags.  How do you construct it?  And how do you use the patterns?  Most seem to only be for flat peyote.

Kathy

I tend to make my own patterns.

And for the small purses, I lay out the front & back design side to side.  with the front being on the first panel to the left.

(if someone was left handed, they probably want to lay it out with the backfirst.)

I honestly don't remember how I treat the step up...  I know it's there, but I guess I'm used to working with it now.