This is a brief summation of history and techniques of beaded embroidery. To see some of my projects, please scroll to the bottom of the page.

Beaded embroidery is very beautiful, and also very period. Some of the first known pieces of beaded embroidery were done in the 12th century on German church vestments. This medieval style of embroidery was usually first sketched onto parchment, then attached to the fabric on which the embroidery was to be stitched. The embroidery was usually done in laid work, meaning that the beads were strung onto one thread, laid on the design in the desired manner, and then couched into place with a second needle and thread.

Beaded embroidery is still done today, although the stitch is often somewhat modified. Instead of stringing on a bunch of beads, one usually takes 3-8 beads on the beading needle at one time. The needle is then plunged into the fabric, and the few beads are then couched with a second needle and thread into place. To add more beads, one does a backstitch, runs through several of the couched beads, and adds more beads to the needle. Once the piece is completed, some people also prefer to run a final thread through all of the beads, to ensure that they won't fall off.

Up here in Oertha (Alaska), this type of embroidery is very common to see. It is often considered to be Athabascan embroidery. There are a few differences between the medieval and the Athabascan techniques. First, one of the more noticable differences is the fabric onto which the design is stitched. Although I am sure that there are some deviances, all of the Athabascan embroidery that I have seen has been done on felt or leather. Some of the Athabascan pieces are first stitched onto the felt, and then appliqued onto objects. The only pieces that I have seen in medieval embroidery were stitched onto cloth, not felt.

Another major difference between the medival and Athabascan styles is the motifs. Some of the main motifs in Athabascan pieces are flowers and leaves. Conversely, some of the early pieces of medieval beaded embroidery were done of people. Medieval beaded embroidery was not only limited to church vestments. At one point in the Italian States during the late 1500's, beaded embroidery on women's clothing became quite extreme. Clothing was embroidered to the point where it looked like mosaics, containing glass beads, and gold and silver enamels. In 1594 or 1595, the Senate banned beaded embroidery on clothing, limiting it to haristyles and headdresses¹. In my research, I have not yet found paintings or surviving pieces of this embroidery.

One similarity between the modern and medieval styles of embroidery is the size of the beads. The beads used on medieval embroidery have been found to be about the same size as the 11/0 beads, which is a common size used in Athabascan embroidery. In fact, slightly out of period, a piece of English embroidery dated 1615-1620 (and possibly earlier) used beads half that size, around a 24/0. The beads were 1/32 of an inch wide², about the size of a grain of sand.

As for a comparison between the modern and medieval styles, there are plusses and minuses to both techniques. I've found that the medieval style of beading is much quicker, especially when doing straight rows, but the beads are not as secure. If one of the threads were to break at any time, many beads would have the potential to come off. The modern technique works well for curvy lines, corners and flowers, since if a thread were to break, only a few beads would probably fall off, if any. The modern embroidery is often considered to be washable in a washing machine, whereas you probably wouldn't want to try that with the medieval embroidery.

Now the modern style also has a drawback. When you stitch on the beads originally, you need to leave a bit of a gap between the end of the last bead and where you insert your needle into the fabric. For when you couch the beads down, the row of beads expands. If you didn't allow enough room when you stitched on the beads, couching down the beads can cause your fabric to buckle or pucker. You don't run into this problem at all in the medieval style.

I've found that the best way to tell which style to use is to determine the piece's eventual use. Are you going to put your design on a sweater that you want to throw in the washing machine, or are you making a decorative piece that will hang on your wall? Are there a lot of straight lines, or is the piece curvy? Each piece is an adventure in itself.

For my beaded embroidery pieces, I did both techniques. Since most of my pieces were decorative, and probably weren't going to see excessive wear and tear, I had no qualms about using the medieval technique. The Ansteorran Rose project is a bag. Assuming that it will be used in the future, I did most of the work in the modern technique, usually four at a time. The process is slow, but I doubt that any of the beads will ever fall off.


My Beaded Embroidery Projects:

      Queen's Rose Pouch


      Ansteorran Royal Rose


      Queen's Rose Needlebook


      Katarzina's Roses


      Gwenyth's Dragonfly


      Margaret Anne's Rose