I have loved beading since I was a little girl…there’s something so satisfying about it. I used to make seed bead daisy chains constantly for myself and for my friends, and I now I make all kinds of jewelry for friends and family.
One thing I really enjoy beading is fringe earrings. I found this awesome tutorial from Olivya LeBlanc from Harvest Moon Designs on YouTube. She is an excellent teacher…thank you Olivya!
I was inspired by the new Barbie movie and made mine pink on top and changing to orange, yellow, then gold like a sunset. You can use my pattern here, or create your own with this graph paper here.
Materials
Delica Seed Beads (11/0 size for larger or 15/0 for smaller)
Bugle Beads (for fringe ends)
Nymo Beading Thread
Wire Guards (2)
Earring Hooks (2)
Supplies
Scissors
Beading Needle
Beading Mat
Although I used all the same size (11/0), I didn’t use delicas, so they were really all different sizes. I could get away with this for the brick stitch because the bead color is in the lining, not the outer edges, so the lines aren’t as pronounced. But I really recommend delicas so you don’t have to struggle with it!
I also advise using the right thread (I used Nymo thread per her recommendation) for a few reasons…first, a very long piece is needed (I used about 6′ per earring), so you don’t want tangles, and second, in order for the fringe to hang straight, the thread has to be pretty soft instead of stiff. This gives it some movement. In the tutorial she uses Fireline, but she also adds bugle (tube) beads at the fringe ends, so that helps the fringe to hang straight and look nice. Regardless of the thread type, I would have used gold bugle beads for my earrings too…I just didn’t have any on hand. They still look great because I checked the tension as I created each row of fringe.
Another tip is to remember the first row of beads is actually the foundation row which is below the top triangle and above the fringe, looking like the top of the fringe. In my pattern I separated it slightly to easily see where it is.
I was pretty excited once I finished my earrings for 2 reasons: I love how they turned out, I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough pink beads, but I did, with 9 to spare! It reminded me of Jesus feeding the 5,000 – He provided enough bread & fish for everyone, plus leftovers. Some would say that’s just “lucky,” but I don’t view it that way, as every good and perfect gift comes from Him (James 1:17). Pink is definitely the in-style color right now and I didn’t even want to try to order any. It’s a small gift, but a significant one to me!
What color of fringe earrings will you do? How did they turn out? LMK with a comment and don’t worry, BEAD HAPPY!
