Not strictly leather, but...

[Forty Rod]

...I didn't find anyplace else to ask.

I want to bead a couple of 1 1/2" x 24" deerskin strips and attach them to a coat.  I'll need two more 12" long, and a pair 20" long for the sleeves.  I don't want to loom them seperately and don't think I'm good enough to stitch directly onto the leather coat...couldn't possibly keep them straight.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

How about putting it on a thin piece of leather or fabric and stitching that to your jacket after you have it the way you want?

[Nolan Sackett]

By the 1870's it was common for the Indians to bead such strips on pieces of canvas or some other tightly woven materails such as pillow ticking and then sew that to the leather. 10/12 oz canvas works good. Wash it well to shrink it and to ge the sizing out. Then Iron it to make it nice and smooth and a bit of spray starch doesn't hurt. When cutting it out leave enough extra on all edges to turn under and sew down. You can use those washable fabric markers to lay out you're pattern.

[Forty Rod]

I planned on using deerskin, or maybe canvas, but don't know how to hold it straight whilst sewing the beads on it.

For the freehand patterns...much shorter length...I can use an embroidery hoop.  Expensive gadgets: I had to lay out four bucks and change.

I need some kind of frame long enough for the 24" strip.

Also, if I use the canvas do I need to hem it or use a selvage stitch of some sort to prrevent fraying?

[Nolan Sackett]

Forty Rod - I'd use canvas rather than deerskin unless you plan on using brain tan - regular tanned deer is a bear to bead on. Of course brain tan is expensive and just like regular buckskin will stretch, that's one of the advantages to canvas is doesn't stretch or at least not much. It will make the strips a bit stiffer, but then beaded strips are fairly stiff to begin with.

Like most Indians I don't use anything to hold the buckskin/cloth. I do know a few native bead workers who do use embroidery hoops etc, but only a very few.

If I were going to stretch a strip I'd just make up a piece using some 1" x 4" or such with two uprights at each end kind of like a bead loom - just stretch the canvas from end to end and tack down at each end. As I noted above leave enough extra around the beaded area to turn under and sew to the face from the backside - this will keep the edges from fraying. If you turned the edges along the long side under and tacked them down before attaching to the frame it would also help the material to keep from stretching/distorting as you bead.
BTW - what method of beadwork are you planning on using? Lane )what used to be called lazy stitch before the PC cops changed it) , appliqué, or Lane is by far the quickest/easiest - if using lane I would start with a center lane and then work to the sides, alternating each lane so that the tension of the beadwork would equalize as you go along......Of course lane beaded strips were used mainly by the plains tribes such as the Lakota, Cheyenne, Kiowa and such, whereas the Mountain tribes such as the Blackfoot, Absaroka, Nez Perce, Shoshone, etc.used appliqué almost exclusively (the Absaroka aka Crow did often use a mix - a long center panel of appliqué with the beads going sideways and then bordered with lane stitch.

Hope this helps.....

[Forty Rod]

I was going to use a two needle method I found on line.  Lazy stitch with the second needle used to tie the lazy stitch down more securely every second or third space.

Don't know the lane method.  Could you explain it?  Might be a better option.

This is the first beadwork I've ever done so I'm really going at it blind.  I may end up donating a lot of beads to the Boy Scouts before I'm through.

Thanks.

[Nolan Sackett]

Go here to see an online tutorial for both lane and applique beading: http://www.nativetech.org/glasbead/glasbead.html

The technique you are describing is NOT the lazy or lane stitch - sounds like either the applique or Crow stitch which is a sort of cross between the lane stitch and the applique. The lane or lazy stitch uses one needle only. Below are examples of:

1) The applique or Crow Stitch - notice hwo the beads look "flat" - this shirt is Blackfoot


2)The lane or lazy stitch notice the humped look of the "lanes" or rows - these leggings are Lakota


For lots more examples there are several museums on line including the new Native American Museum

[Forty Rod]

WOW!!!

Great site, Nolan.  Thanks.

Looking at some of the beading I think I'm a few days away from getting that good, like a billion or more. and now I can see why it's so expensive to have it done.

Thanks again.