Jan 31 2009
More On Brick Stitch
As I mentioned in a previous post I’ve just gotten started working with brick stitch. I’m self taught with some help from books and tutorials that I’ve found on the internet. Designing for brick stitch is a breeze and I’ve come up with some pretty designs I’ll be sharing when I get them worked up, but working in brick stitch is a challenge for me.
The first thing to remember is that brick stitch is naturally a solid stitch. When I started working up a two inch cuff, I wanted to make sure it was good and solid. I’d worked about an inch when I discovered it was as stiff as a board because I’d pulled the thread so tight. I loosened up on my tension and the rest of the bracelet is working out nicely. Fortunately I started in the center, my wrist is flat any way, so that flat immoveable section will work fine on my wrist, but if you have a nice rounded wrist that would look a little odd to say the least. Another drawback to making it so tight is that in trying to see if it would flex at all, I broke one of the beads because there was too much pressure from the adjoining beads.
Brick stitch is much easier to increase and decrease to give you a patterned edge, but there are some little things I found out about decreasing. When you add the first two beads to the decrease row, the first bead doesn’t want to sit squarely between the first and second bead of the previous row. I found that if I added the third bead, then I had a good sturdy base and the first bead can be coaxed into position more easily and it will stay there.
Like peyote stitch, brick stitch works up more easily with delicas because they are cylindrical instead of donut shaped. They just fit together more evenly, but depending on the texture and look you want, different bead styles are definitely worth working with.
I’ll be posting picture of the designs I’m working on when I get them finished. I love new stitches and new designs!
