Pattern Review: Demoiselle Bracelet

DEMOISELLE BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• Honeycomb Jewel beads "Chalk Lazure Blue"
• SuperDuo beads "Matte Chalk Picasso"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Bronze"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Smoky Topaz Luster"

I've had a copy of Sam's pattern for a while but hadn't had a chance to give it a try. When I got some Honeycomb Jewel beads recently, I thought this pattern would be a perfect way to use them since it calls for the regular kind of Honeycomb beads. You can buy Samantha Wescott's pattern in her Etsy shop HERE.

The instructions are clear and the bracelet is very easy to make. It has a nice solid feel to it and a little more weight than you'd expect from a 1/2-inch wide bracelet. It's also a comfortable bracelet to wear.

I made my bracelets as directed by the pattern except that I added an 8/0 seed bead on each end for the jump rings. There was one other little tweak that I had to make but it's one that depends on the seed beads that you're using. In Step 6, the pattern says to add three 11/0 beads but you might need to add four if you're using Miyuki seed beads. There was too much space between the beads otherwise.

I also suggest reinforcing the entire perimeter of the bracelet at least once. The inside beads are securely stitched together but the outer beads are simply strung between the existing beadwork. I feel better knowing that more than one strand of thread is going through all of the beads. Perhaps that's not as much of an issue with Fireline but I used Nymo thread when I made these. The pattern calls for Fireline but Nymo D thread worked perfectly fine and I had no trouble getting through the beads as many times as I needed to. It took about two yards or so of thread to make each bracelet.

I discovered that how many Honeycomb beads you'll need will depend on the SuperDuo beads that you're using. I made the blue bracelet first and only needed sixteen Honeycombs for that one. I assumed that I'd also need sixteen for the purple bracelet but found that it would be much too short unless I used seventeen. Apparently the blue SuperDuos are quite a bit fatter than the purple ones because both bracelets came out almost exactly the same length and both were made with Miyuki seed beads. If you use Toho seed beads that will likely also affect the final length. Based on the number of Honeycomb beads that I needed for my 6-inch wrist, you'll need approximately 18-19 Honeycomb beads to fit a 7-inch wrist size and 20-21 Honeycombs to fit an 8-inch wrist.

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• Honeycomb Jewel beads "Senegal Purple"
• SuperDuo beads "Polychrome Pink Olive"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Bronze"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Bronze Illusion"

You can get these Honeycomb Jewel beads at QueenCityBead on Etsy, HERE. Red Panda also has them in a few colors. I will let you know when I find out that more colors are available.