Bracelet of the Day: Tokyo Rows - Pale Blue & Cream

TOKYO ROWS BRACELET

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (15-457D)
• 3mm fire polished beads "Bronze"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Opaque Champagne Luster"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Light Sapphire Gold Marbled"

I first posted about this pattern on July 7th, HERE. I had tried several different colors and sizes of beads and eventually settled on the most delicate version made with 15/0 seed beads and 3mm fire polished beads. The pattern requires making individual flowers and stitching them together which is not my favorite way to do beadwork. Although it doesn't take long to make, if you use Deb Roberti's method for making the flowers, I'm not sure if I'll bother with the pattern again. There are lots of similar flower designs available that can be made without so much fuss. It's the way that the motifs are connected that makes this method necessary. Most other patterns I've seen connect the motifs via one of the fire polished beads on the outer edge of the flower. With this pattern, you connect them from the seed beads between the fire polished beads. I do like the effect this creates so it was at least worth the trouble of making a couple of these bracelets. I'll post the other bracelet tomorrow.

The pattern is by Martha Aleo and you can buy it HERE. Before you use the pattern, be sure to read my other post about a much easier way to make the flowers. I also suggest that you don't cut the threads on ALL of the motifs OR cut the threads after connecting each motif to the bracelet as the pattern directs. There's no need to go to that much trouble although you will need to weave in and cut the threads on all but the two end motifs.

What I did was leave about a 12-inch tail on the first motif that I made and wove in and cut the working thread. This tail will be used to attach half of the clasp later. On the second motif that I made, I also left a 12-inch tail for the other half of the clasp AND I used a long enough piece of working thread so that I could connect all of the motifs AND add the netting later. I estimate that I used about 1/2 to 3/4 yard of thread for the first motif and I think about 2 yards of thread for the second motif, which will be the motif that goes on the other end of the bracelet. After making those two motifs, I started making the rest of the flowers individually and wove in the threads on them. I think it took approximately another couple of yards of thread to make all of the other flowers for my size bracelet. If you make yours with larger beads, you may need more thread than I did. I left a needle threaded on the motif with the long working thread so that I could connect the individual flowers to it as I made them. I used a second needle for making the separate flowers so that I wouldn't have to keep re-threading needles all the time. By connecting the flowers as you go, you can get a good idea of how many motifs you'll need. Bear in mind that the bracelet will shrink up a little when you add the netting along the sides later.

I made this bracelet with ten motifs and it's a little too long. To compensate, I made the smallest clasp loops I could and attached a teeny tiny magnet clasp so it is wearable.