Customer Reviews

Decorative Beaded Purses (Beadwork Books)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a very beautiful book of techniques and ideas on creating small beaded bags out of seed beads using brick, peyote and straight stitch and embellished with bugle and decorative beads. The book is clearly written with illustrations of all the simple techniques involved and filled with full-color, clear photos of beautiful completed works. In all, a lovely book that should be in every seed beader's library as a source of inspiration.

I wanted to make amulet bags, and as a beginning beader, decided to jump right in and try. The directions are very easy to follow and include little purses using a variety of stitches: peyote, square, brick, and netting. They suggest colors but the user can really use whichever colors they like with the patterns. I do wish more of the patterns had the little flap closings for the purses, since most are designed to be open on top, but I think the author's reason may have been to keep it simple for beginners. I'd also like to ad that the book is in full color with nice glossy paper and photos. I appreciate this since some of the other books I have seen are very low quality with a steep price. If you're new to beaded amulet purses or other small purses I think you will find this book useful....I have!

I disagree with the review that these projects are not for beginners. I bought this book wanting to make a larger evening bag for my wedding, and was so pleased with the results! I had never beaded in this way before, and found the diagrams and accompanying text easy to follow. I have since tried all the stitches in the book and made amulet purses for my attendants. Her instructions make it quite easy to adapt the projects for individual taste, which was good as I did not care for the sample colors and patterns. Great beginner's book!

Start at the cover of this book that features five necklaces. You'll say, "Wow! How can I make these gorgeous little necklace purses?" Author Enid Taylor shows you how. Bead stitching is pretty much the same from book to book, offering the same techniques shown here: brick, square, peyote, and netting stitches. This book is special because Enid shows you how those stitches combine to make a fabulous purse. Enid, a home economics teacher for 24 years, started a craft studio in 1982, so there's lots of teaching experience behind her book. Although her craft studio's focus was on lacemaking, spinning, and needlework, her expertise in beading shines through. Not only are there many techniques shown for the body of the purses, but there are multiple ways shown to make the neckchains and fanciful decorative finishes. If your aim is to concentrate your efforts on amulet necklaces, this is the book for you!

This is a book on making amulet purses using bugle and round beads. It begins with a short intro on materials & equipment. Then the techniques (making neck of the purse, brick stitch,square stitch, peyote,netting & square netting) are taught.There is also a chapter on making decorative finishes to the purse such as fringes etc. Next comes the instructions to make different types of purses using the techniques taught. There are colored photos of the purses made.I like all the photos as they are very clear & close up so it is easy to see what she is doing. All diagrams for the beads are computer generated and colored so it is easy to see when to change color. Unlike some bead books, the diagrams shown in the book are clear and large enough so it is easy on the eyes. When doing the different projects, additional instructions or techniques are given when required. The author uses alot of metallic colors or those quite close to each other for the projects. There are no patterns of flowers or anything special. But this will be quite a nice book to begin with too as I started out with it. Practice more & you will also get the hang of it on tension of beads etc. Happy beading

First, you'll learn basic stitches with seed beads: brick, square, peyote, netting, square netting, netted chains, and fringes. Then there are patterns for projects and a list of materials required.

The projects are intense and I would not recommend that a beginner tackle them. The projects will take lots of practice in stitch method and thread tension. Once conquered, the results are spectacular. All projects are photographed in finely detailed close-up.

My copy finally arrived and I've already made 3 purses in the last week! The patterns are inspiring and most of the directions are very good. One thing I found when working on a sample even count peyote stitch, Ms. Taylor gives good directions but when I attempted one of the purses, it was in uneven peyote stitch and there was no explination on how to start the next row. I had to go to Bead & Button's website and get their directions. I look forward to making these great little bags for a craft boutique in the fall.

I would have liked to give this book a 10 STAR rating. I bought this book not just for the purses BUT for the clear and very easy to follow directions for the weaving! I used the stitches I learned in this book for other projets. I am a visual learner and this book is better than more $$$$ books I bought just to learn the stitches. Color through out. I did not find any of the colors muted as another stated.
There are patterns for Brick, Square, Peyote (Which thanks to this book I now can read the patterns!)Netted and square Netting. A very nice Gallery. I intend to write the author.

The layout of the book was easy to follow. So were the instructions. The colors used in the purses were too muted in some. Therefore a person using the author's color schemes will find that some of the purses look washed out when they bead them.

I think this is the best bead book that I own. I've learned how to make every stitch I use from this book. Really good instruction drawings and good close up photos. Best hands on instruction for learning on your own!