Sometimes, with some stitches, your beads can easily fall off the end of your thread before you have a chance to use them. Annoying!
To prevent this, start with a stopper bead.
1. On your threaded needle, add a bead that does not look anything like the beads you're using in your project. In the photos below, I'm using a dark purple bead as a stopper in a project using white beads.
2. Go through the stopper bead again, in the same direction. For example, the needle and thread in the photo above are going through the bead from bottom to top; therefore, go through the bead again from bottom to top, as in the photo below.
3. Notice the thread travels across the outside of the stopper bead.
4. See a stopper bead in action in the photo below!
You'll notice the stopper bead still slides around. This makes it easy to take off when you're finished with it, but it also means that if you push against it hard enough, your beads will still fall off the thread. Just be careful not to lose your stopper bead and/or your tail thread.
If you need a stopper bead that stay in place (doesn't slide), then stitch through it twice. This means you'll have to pick these loops out with a needle later, but that's not hard to do if you use a larger bead as your stopper.
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