VIDEO: How To Tie Off Bead Weaving Thread

Two examples of how to tie off your thread

I face a conundrum whenever I have to write about tying off thread. It something we do at least once in every bead weaving project, but putting it into words has been challenging. Below are two videos for anyone who wants or needs a demonstration of one technique to tie off your bead weaving thread.

It might sound weird but – for the most part – I actually enjoy writing out instructions for my bead weaving classes. It can be frustratingly intricate and detailed, and I’ve learned that simple phrases like “send your needle UP through this bead” are surprisingly subjective. It turns out “UP” means different things to different people! And when a pattern is complicated, it’s hard to be clear and correct. I think I’ve gotten better over the years and I’ve enjoyed learning and growing in my task to offer a good handout in a class.

Except when it comes to tying off the thread.

I face a conundrum whenever I have to write about tying off thread. It something we do at least once in every bead weaving project, but putting it into words has been challenging. I think I do a decent job of writing the instructions that accompany my classes but, when it comes to the simple technique of tying-off the thread, I hit a wall. My solution: just write something like “Next, tie off your thread,” and then I just show people how to do it in the class.

I’ve created a few bead weaving classes whose handouts were clear enough to sell individually to people who don’t actually attend the class. When I sell the pattern, I make sure they should know how to tie off their thread because I won’t be there to show them. And, as far as I know, that’s worked out just fine over the last several years. Recently, however, one woman who purchased my Crossroads Bracelet pattern confided in me that this was her first bead weaving attempt and had no idea how to tie off her thread.

In an effort to help her understand this basic and necessary bead weaving technique, I recalled that I made a video back in 2012 showing how to do make the bracelet. It was sort of a practice video for me and the quality wasn’t great. But it did show how to do all the steps. So I snipped out the section of the video that shows how to tie off the thread and I posted it on YouTube. Problem solved! She watched it and was able to finish her first bead weaving endeavor!

So, here it is for anyone who wants or needs a demonstration of one technique to tie off your bead weaving thread. The Crossroads Bracelet is a Netting Stitch project, so other stitches might be slightly different, but the knot works for just about every situation. Below this video is another example, working on a project using Peyote Stitch.

As a side note, some people like to tie a knot, go through a few beads, tie a second knot, go through a few beads and then cut the thread. These examples just show one knot before hiding the tail & cutting.

If you want to see details for the Crossroads Bracelet class, you can check it out here.

For another example you can go watch this video, which shows how to make a peyote stitch bail. I start the tying-off process at 13:40.