Don’t let the name put you off, this unique
little stitch is really fun and honestly, not that hard to learn. I have to
admit, the whole ‘right angle’ thing put me off for a long time. You
see in my opinion,
Right?
Right Angles = Maths
and Maths = Yuk.
So after much prolonging and procrastinating, and
finally realising that peyote stitch wasn’t going to keep me entertained
forever, I finally decided to face the dreaded and you know what? This stitch
is really not that mathematical at all. Okay, so you do have to stitch your
beads at right angles, but it’s not like you have to be a maths whizz to work
that out, and you certainly don’t need to know any pi, square, geometry,
mathvomity stuff.
The way I like to think of it is…well…if beading
was a dance… and the thread was the dancer…then the right angle weave is like
the dosado. So what does that make you as the beader? The choreographer of
course! That’s right, you’ve got to swing those little beadies round and round.
Well not exactly. They just have to move at right angles with one another.
Let’s see
Right?
Right (I hear you say)
So let’s begin..
TOOLS:
- Beads (I generally like to use Japanese seed beads with weaving, but the great thing about this stitch is that you can pretty much use anything…Why not try pearls, gems, lampworks)
- Needle
- Nymo Thread (depending on your bead size you may like to use powerpro instead)
STEP 1: Get
ready to Dosado…
Diagram 1
NB: You can
either use a stop bead or tie your thread during step one to secure your work.
Pick up four
beads and pass back through the first (if not using stop bead, tie knot here)
second and third bead again.
Keep in mind
with the diagrams that the unbroken line indicates the first time the thread passes
through a bead. The broken lines are either the second or third time a thread
passes through a bead.
STEP 2: Swing
your partner round and round…
Diagram 2
Pick up three
more beads and pass your thread back through the last bead you exited from step
one (bead three in diagram 1) and the first two beads you picked up in this
step (beads five and six).
STEP 3: And
keep on swinging…
Diagram 3
Once again, pick
up three more beads and pass back through the last bead you exited from the
previous step (bead six in diagram 2) and the first two beads you picked up in
this step.
Continue with
this step two and three - Your thread should alternate between moving clockwise
to anti-clockwise with each new step.
Remember whilst
on your first row, you will always need to pick up three beads (other than the
very first step where you pick up four).
ADDITIONAL ROW: Now,
back the other way…
Okay, so you’ve
mastered the basics. Now when it comes to adding rows, it may seem a little
daunting at first, but all you have to do is change the direction of your
movement.
Diagram 4
Finishing Row
one.
To finish a row
and begin a new one you will need to exit from the eastern bead. (Still
confused? Go take another look at diagram 1. Normally you exit from bead three.
However, to start a new you will need to exit from bead two).
Now pick up three
new beads (blue beads in diagram 4) and pass back through the last bead you
exited in the previous step and back through the three beads from this step…
Now to continue
your new row..
This time you
will only need to pick up two beads (the pink ones in diagram 4) and then you
will pass back through the last bead you exited in the previous step and then
through the last bead you exited from the first row. Continue picking up two
beads to complete your row, alternating from clockwise to anti-clockwise with
each new step.
All this dancing
is making me dizzy you say…
Well good, cause
hopefully that means you’re doing it right. Just keep moving your thread around
and around, maintain your beads at right angles with one another, alternate
each stitch from clockwise to anti-clockwise, and you shouldn’t go wrong.
In retrospect,
maybe this stitch is a little bit tricky after all. But don’t be deterred,
because once you’ve got it, you’ll be swinging your threads like a square
dancing sensation.
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