Ndebele Stitch
The ndebele stitch is one that I've been wanting to learn, but I just haven't gotten around to. Well, I got my chance to try it out this morning, thanks to one of the video tutorials I watched last night. And I decided to start with tubular ndebele.
You know what? It's fun! And once you get three rows done, it's pretty easy. Actually, the hardest part of learning was that I decided to try the tubular ndebele stitch using size 11 beads instead of my usual size 8. (And here's the reason -- I'm fast running out of size 8s!)
Ndebele Stitch
Also known as the herringbone stitch, this starts out with a ladder stitch as the base. I don't know about you, but a ladder stitch with size 11 seed beads is a little challenging; I might have had an easier time had I used Delicas, but I didn't want to use Delicas for a learning experiment.
While there's no real claim that the Ndebele people in Africa came up with this stitch, it is something widely recognized as being central to their beading culture. And although herringbone may describe it better from our point of view, I think using the African name is more appropriate.
So, I am working on my tubular ndebele, and trying to decide how long I want to make it. I have an idea for a bracelet, but I haven't quite decided.
If you haven't tried this beading stitch, either flat or tubular, I encourage you to try it. Below are two links to learning this beading; one for flat, one for tubular. Be aware, it's at the Bead & Button website, so you'll need to register to see it (but registration is free).
