Star design

[Mato Winyan]

I need some technical advice on a beadwork design of the star quilt pattern. I am having a hard time of everything coming out even. :Cry :Yell :Cry
I am trying to do a star 7 3/4" from a tip of star to the bottom tip.
Anyway you can help will be appreciated!

[Little One~]

*cringes at being the first to reply, or perhaps the last, if I ever get this thing typed out!*

This is likely to both be long and confusing, but I hope it helps a little.

I suppose I would first have to ask how you are laying out your design. I have a bad habit of "eyeballing" everything and just trying to make it look right, but if you're used to marking your points with lines or what have you it may make a difference in how my way of thinking about this will work.

Next, I'm going to attach an image of a pattern I'm currently working on. It's not a 'star', but your end shape as far as points go will likely be the same. Ignore the funny white patches around the edge. I tried to rotate the image so the 'star' would show better.



Next I would ask what size beads you're using, and how you were wanting to do the center of your star? If you have a similarly sized rosette in the same size bead you may be able to guestimate how many rows it will take for each diamond by measuring how many rows it will take to finish the entire peice.

As an example, I'll use what I've done with the above image...
It one in a set of various sized rosettes. All of them needed the same star pattern, but I couldn't figure out how many layers of colors I needed to both a) meet the required size and b) more or less match the pattern. So I came up with this little scheme that seems to work consistantly.

I was after a pattern for a 2 inch rosette.

---The rosette was done in 13/0's.
---In general, on a 13/0 rosette, 4 rows equals 1/2 inch in diameter. So, to meet my 2 inch requirement, I would need 16 rows of beads.
---On any varigated star, 2 rows are added per color to finish the point, so 2 color additions equals 1/2 inch in diameter.

Now, that said, you can see that I messed up this rosette. If I had trusted my estimation, I would have known that adding the last row of purple would put me bang on the diameter mark, but I was too chicken to chance it, and wound up having to put little purple tips on the ends of the points to meet my diameter anyway.

So, if you can figure out how many rows it will take to finish your rosette, you can then subdivide each section to figure out how many rows you will need for each diamond layer in the star, then you can work out what your pattern will need to be.

Believe it or not, the system I blundered through above has worked for two other rosettes in this set simply by laying down the pattern of the rosette pictured and adding two color bands for each 1/2 inch size increase needed:

16 rows as follows:

pink spot
1 lit purple
2 dk. purple
3 white
4 pattern 3 white 1 lt green
5 1 white 1 lt green 2 white 1 lt green
6 start dk green
7 start pink
8 start lt purple - end lt green
9 start dk purple
10 end dk green
11 pattern
12 end pink
13 pattern
14 end lt purple
15 patter
16 end dk purple

I think the biggest difficulty for you will be getting the width of your diamonds right. Unfortunately, my only way of dealing with that goes back to the 'eyeballing' thing again.

I hope this makes sense.

[Mato Winyan]

Wow, thank you soooooooooo much for your response and the time it took for you too help me. It is very much appreciated!

I am trying to put the pattern on a legging for my daughter. In the very center will be another design like over the star (some call it morningstar). But yes, that is the star shape and yes i am trying to eyeball it and it is not working!! I don't know how to go about it mathmatically
speaking!! (That is terrible I know for someone who used to work in the printing business and with graphic arts!) :blushing:
I will be using 13's for the design.
I am going to be doing rossettes next so thank you in advance for that! ;)

[Suzizila]

What you could do, if you are using the lane (lazy) stitch for the beading, is to find a quilt book with a blank star. Then, enlarge the star to fit the size of the leggings. Color in the diamonds so you have the design you want. Finally, in order to have a true star shape instead of what you end up with if you graph the design, use the rows of diamonds as your lane. You'll have to change the direction the lane is going in each larger diamond, but it all works out in the end. I used this method to bead a star for my dance purse & it worked out perfectly.

If you can't find a blank star, I can make a few copies of one for you to use.

Good luck with you project. I hope this helps. :)

[Blackbear]

Dang suzz..that is a great idea

[Little One~]

Originally posted by Mato Winyan
I am going to be doing rossettes next so thank you in advance for that! ;)

You're more than welcome. I just hope it does help. I wasn't sure what part of the project you were working on, and I'm afraid my method is just for rosettes, but please do let me know if it works for you! :)

[Suzizila]

Thanks, Blackbear. It was just an idea to try out after I saw a quilt which was the inspiration for my design. :)

[Mato Winyan]

Suzizila

I am planning on doing applique because I didn't think I could do lane with the small diamonds.
Great idea about the pattern, and no I don't have a blank one. Maybe you could send it as an attachment to my e-mail, if I can't find one. :) ;)

[Czechy]

It can be done in lane stitch but it means adjusting the design somewhat. The problem is that beads are not quite as tall as they are wide (in lane stitch) and this distorts the design when you want the height and width to be the same in proportion. Generally you'll need to add more to the height of a lane stitch design to get it to look visually equal to its width. Just how much to add will require some experimenting. If you can get a hold of the video "How to Bead Native American Style- Lazy Stitch", do so. The design they take you through is a small four-pointed star which is the base for the larger star you want to do, just add more blocks. Hope I haven't confused everybody....

[TaShunka Luta]

I'm going to try to attach a picture - my leggings are the star design also. I did the design on graph paper (about 10 years ago) then used a piece of carbon paper and drew over the pattern while it was face down on the canvas so it drew the pattern onto the canvas - make sense? Anyway, it was pretty easy to follow. Hope this helps :)

[Mato Winyan]

:bouncy: THAT'S IT!!!!! :bouncy:


That's what I'm talking about!! ;) Bead graph or reg graph paper?

How hard was it to do lane or lazy stitch in that pattern? Do you think applique would be easier?

Thank you so much for posting the photo. Only one small problem...I couldn't see the price tag!! ;) :p

[TaShunka Luta]

Thanks Mato Winyan and no, that wasn't a hard pair to do. Those are one of my own pair that I wear and one of my firsts to do, they're done in lazy stitch and it was actually the easiest I've done. I've done some that are appliqued on the center design or more elaborate designs and then filled in with lazy and it goes slower to me personally. I'm beading a crown and hairtie set right now and it's appliqued with 13 cuts, it's going slow - I'm staying up late at nite to get it finished. Sorry, no price tag on those, they're mine but I would consider taking a order or helping you with it. Have you made leggings before? The easiest way that I've found is to bead them on canvas and then back them. Sometimes I use zippers but on the pair I posted I put those eyelets in before I started beading and beaded around them so I could use laces and attached cones on the ends of them. I'm writing a book so I'm going to stop now - let me know if you need help. :)