Loom bead pattern maker
Loom beadwork weaves seed beads into a flat fabric on a small frame loom: each row of beads is strung on a weft thread, pressed up between the warp threads and locked in place. Every bead has its own place on a grid, so a loom pattern is a chart of cells, and Chromattice draws it bead by bead, in the shape and colours of the beads you’ll buy.
An example made in ChromatticeWhat the designer does for loom beading
- Cells the shape of your beads: Miyuki or Toho rounds, or Miyuki Delica cylinders, with the finished size in centimetres and inches as you draw.
- Fit a wrist works out how many rows a cuff needs from your wrist, the ease you like and your clasp.
- Chart it the way it’s worn or the way it’s woven: the warp down the chart or across it.
- Colours from Miyuki, Toho and Preciosa colour charts, found by name or code, each with its bead count.
- A row counter for the loom: one woven row at a time, each run of colour with its count.
- A printed pattern with rulers, a key of bead codes, grams and tubes to buy, the warp threads to cut and how long, and a row-by-row count.
Good to know
- You need one more warp thread than there are beads across: each bead sits between two warps, so a cuff 21 beads wide takes 22. (firemountaingems.com)
- Warp the loom in one go, keeping the same tension on every thread. (firemountaingems.com)
- A row is woven by laying its beads under the warps, pressing each one up between two of them, and passing the needle back through the beads above the warps to lock the row. (cutoutandkeep.net)
- Off the loom, weave the thread tails back through a few rows and run each warp end back into the piece before trimming. (cutoutandkeep.net)
- Delica cylinders line up in straighter rows than round seed beads, and an 11/0 Delica looks a little smaller than an 11/0 round, so expect the same chart to come out a slightly different size in each. (potomacbeads.com)
Other crafts
Chromattice needs JavaScript for the designer.