Pastel Waves Peyote Stitch Pattern

Instructions

1. Thread your needle and slide any bead that you have in your bead stash down the thread, leaving roughly an 8-inch tail. Go through the bead hole again with the needle and pull the thread tight to make a stop bead. This will ensure your tiny Delicas won’t fall off the end of the thread!
   
   The first row is made up of 18 Delicas (this is actually rows 1 and 2 together according to the pattern). Pick up the beads in the order stated in the pattern, working from the left to the right, as shown in the photo above. Click here for the peyote stitch pattern. 

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2. To make the next row, you’ll be working from right to left this time. In the pattern, this is row 3, with 9 Delicas to pick up. Pick up the first bead for this row and then skip the last bead that you threaded on. Pass your needle through the next bead along in the previous row, as shown above.

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3. Continue working your way across row 3, picking up a bead and skipping a bead before passing the needle and thread through the next bead along in the previous row.
   
   Think of it like laying bricks – you’ll want your Delicas to slot nicely in between each other!
   
   In flat even count peyote stitch, stepping up to make the next row is really straightforward. When you get to the end of a row, simply turn your beadwork in the opposite direction and start the next row in your pattern. 

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4. Once you have a few rows made up, you’ll start to see the diagonal pastel colored waves forming. Keep on beading each and every row according to the pattern. 

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5. At the end of the pattern, the beadwork should measure just under 5.5 inches, leaving you enough room to add a clasp of your choice. If you need to extend the beadwork to make it longer, you can do so at both ends if you need to, by adding a few rows following the existing bead colors.

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