Big Book of Indian Beadwork Designs

by Kay Doherty Bennett

Over the centuries, Native Americans have used beadwork to ornament clothing and a wide variety of ceremonial and utilitarian articles. Now you can create colorful, interesting designs of your own with this beadwork design treasury featuring scores of Indian buffalo, kachinas, eagles, feathers, lightning bolts, and more.
While many of the patterns appear in color-coded charts for beadwork, others can be used in appliqué and embroidery projects, as patterns for stained glass creations, and in numerous other crafts. Easy-to-follow diagrams enable even beginners to create a striking array of gorgeous authentic motifs that will add rich, ornamental touches to T-shirts, vests, blouses, handbags, belts and headbands, cushion covers, table linens, and many other items.
An inexpensive way to create beautiful gifts for friends and family, this user-friendly design book will also introduce you to a time-honored craft practiced for centuries by the first Americans.

Genres: Reference

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 12, 1998

Reviews

[Anna Nesterovich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite a nice collection of patterns, this book was more of a disappointment than inspiration. First of all, the patterns come without any kind of background on the culture, geography, time period, or meaning. There is no information whatsoever, just a few lines on how to best use them. Just a few words would increase the value of the collection immensely. Second, the adaptation to the Kindle formatting failed completely; it became unreadable. Which line goes with which picture is impossible to tell, but
more importantly, the color code legends are all over the place, the same scheme does not work for all patterns, and they are referenced by page number, which is of course meaningless in this format.

[Purplelion · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would recommend getting the physical copy of this book to get a better view of the charts that are included. They come in black and white, and there are quite a variety of them. Line art illustrations are included in the back, which offer a good source of inspiration.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ideas.