Princess Pearl Necklace—Right Angle Weave

This is a gorgeous necklace design. It uses a modified right angle weave (RAW) stitch. The design was featured in an old copy of Bead & Button (my favorite magazine for all things beadweaving). The pattern is available for purchase here or if you can find an old copy of the magazine (like your local library?) you could get it free.  It’s in the pattern, Scalloped lace: modified right-angle weave necklace in the December 2008 issue.

Full Disclosure: Most of the beads you see below are from Artbeads.com.  Some of the items I had on hand but all the pretty stuff is from them. To be clear; they gave me the beads so I would create and then write. Nothing really very sinister but I need to tell you this all upfront so none of us gets into trouble.

Supplies:

250 3mm Swarovski Pearls
11/0 Rounded Seed Beads
Fireline & fine needle
Clasp of your choice

The directions use 4mm bicone crystals. That can hit the wallet tough as there are more than 200 crystals in this project. I decided to try small pearls instead. I used Swarovski 5810 3mm Round Pearls in Powder Green. The photos I have taken of the necklace do not do it justice—the color is gorgeous. Because they’re Swarovski, they are all perfectly uniform in color/size/shape. Perfect for a detailed project like this one.

The instructions could use some additional instructions though. I’ve made this necklace a few times with crystals and am a very experienced weaver—it’s confusing. It’s not completely clear how many sections you should make, and the final steps, which is how you get the scalloped effect,  are not clear either. No worries; I’ll help you.

Additional Instructions:

Each section is a series of 5 squares with picots all around.

It’s not totally clear in the directions how many of these sections you should make. This matters because you need to know how many stones you should have to finish the piece. I used some basic math and calculated the intended length of the design and found the necklace too short. I ordered 250 pearls and had plenty to make the necklace exactly the length I needed (and didn’t break the bank).

After you’ve made all the sections you will run through the top of the necklace to create the scallop effect.  This part is not that clear. In the directions they demonstrate the first section which is fine. But the next section is going in a different direction and does not work the same way.

When you get to the next arch, you have to twist the necklace to make it flip in the same direction.

The Final Product:

The clasp on this necklace can be anything really. I chose to use a two-strand to one strand finding and then a clasp. I’ve also done a two strand clasp.  I like to use quality findings whenever possible. If you’re going to do all this work, why cheap out on lousy findings?

The pearl version of this necklace is really great. If you have the opportunity, try it with bicone crystals as well. Put it on and it doesn’t matter what kind of day you had or that all you’re doing is emptying the dishwasher—you will feel like a princess.

 

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