Description
Beaded Poppy pattern designed by Katie Dean and developed from her Battle of the Beadsmith entry for 2014. The beaded poppy pattern is written to make a bracelet with a beaded poppy toggle fastening. But you can make the poppy on its own and attach a brooch back if you are looking for a poppy brooch.
I developed this design as a result of two ideas. I have spent a long time exploring the idea of beaded clasps, resulting in a book on the topic. Then, I also wanted to make my 2014 Battle entry to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the outbreak of World War I. As I was beading my battle piece, I realised that I had created a design that could be turned into a beaded poppy pattern to make jewellery that is simpler and less time-consuming than my complete battle necklace. This is a project that I have also taught to a number of students.
About the Beaded Poppy Pattern
The beaded poppy pattern uses circular, tubular and odd count peyote stitch to make the poppy. This can be turned into a toggle to fasten the bracelet. Or by omitting the toggle from the back, you can just add a brooch back. In actual fact, if you have a buttonhole through which to wear it, you can retain the toggle element. Then wear it through the buttonhole on a jacket.
If you are also making the bracelet, you will be creating a Right Angle Weave base and embellishing this with O beads to create the effect of a field of poppies. The two ends of the bracelet each have an eye through which the poppy toggle clasp fastens. This is made from Peyote stitch and measures around 2″ (5cm) in diameter.
You will need a combination of seed beads, bicones and O beads for this project. It is suitable for improvers and intermediate beaders, or beyond. As with all my patterns, the instructions include detailed written instructions accompanies by step-by-step diagrams to illustrate thread paths, and photos to show the detail of the project.
