Decorating Cuffs: Dimensional Embroidery with Stones and Beads
To turn a plain, single-color jacket or coat into a one-of-a-kind outfit, you can use a striking trick — embroider it with stones and beads. The same technique lets you make a dimensional embroidered bracelet, too — an original, eye-catching accessory that can turn office wear into a party look.
What makes this kind of decoration special is that you can create a one-of-a-kind design just using ordinary trim or cord — this piece can easily be shaped however you like and dressed up with a scattering of beads and seed beads.
What you'll need:
1. A piece of felt or thin wool coating fabric suitable for a bracelet. If you want to decorate cuffs instead, the embroidery is worked directly on the finished garment.
2. Cord, a length of synthetic rope, or a thick braided trim.
3. Hot glue.
4. Beads, faux stones, and seed beads.
5. Craft monofilament (fishing line) or nylon thread doubled.
How to do dimensional bead embroidery
On the piece of felt or the finished cuffs, lay out the trim and glue it down with hot glue. Trim the cord ends and singe them with a lighter to keep the material from fraying.
Sew on all the larger elements first: cabochons, stones, and beads. Then move on to stitching around the trim.
To do this, bring the needle with the monofilament through from the back, thread on the number of beads you need, and use them to cover the cord. Gradually decorate the entire surface of the cord, choosing beads in matching colors. In this case, a combination of silvery gray, black, and a "wet asphalt" shade works really well.
Once you've finished covering the trim, fill in the space between the dimensional swirls with small seed beads. A combination of matte and glossy beads, stones, rhinestones, and bugle beads looks especially lovely.
At this point, the cuff embroidery is done. For the bracelet, you'll need to pick a suitable clasp — a magnetic clasp, for example. This piece pairs beautifully with a handmade brooch embroidered on felt in a similar style.
Beautiful! :love: It probably turned out heavy, right? It looks nicely massive (y)
I think it's better to reinforce the felt on the inside with a piece of leather or the same felt: the bracelet will easily withstand the weight of the stones/beads, and it will be easier to hide the clasp between the two layers. It will turn out neat and reliable ;)