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He loves me...he loves me not. Inspired by the romance of threading daisies together in a sunny summer meadow with the beau of your choice, Seed Bead (also called Indian beads) Daisy Chains are necklaces you can wear all-year-round. Because they are simple to create, you can make one to go with whatever outfit you happen to wear. And because they are so beautiful, they are simple to sell at country fairs and flea markets. One young woman crafts these beads and sells them on the school bus to and from school. She earns her spending money this way, and helps her mother out in the allowance department. Here is how you make them.
Materials
1 yard heavy-duty cotton quilting thread
1 between (hand quilting needle) small enough to fit through bead holes
1 metal jewelry clasp
225 green seed beads
8 yellow seed beads
64 white seed beads
Method
Fasten one end of your thread to one side of the metal fastening clasp, double knotting it and leaving about a six-inch tail. Thread the other end (the long end) of the thread into the between needle, but do not knot it as you will be using a single strand of the thread to do your beading.
Begin beading by threading 25 green beads, four white beads and one yellow bead onto the thread. Push all these bead to the end of the thread where the clasp is fastened. Holding the beads taught to the clasp end with the forefinger and thumb of your left hand (if you are
right-handed), loop the needle back through the four white beads only, starting with the one closest to the green bead. Do not double-thread the yellow bead. Pull the thread taught.
Next, thread four more white beads onto the necklace and pull them taught to the beads already in place. Loop the needle through the original four white beads again in the same direction you looped through them the first time, starting again with the one closest to the green bead. Pull the thread taught to form your first daisy.
Thread 25 more green beads onto the necklace. Make your next daisy the same as you did the first one.
Continue in this pattern to form eight daisies total with 25 green beads separating each of them, ending with a row of the 25 green beads. Then, holding the beads taught, double knot the thread through the loop of the second part of the fastening clasp. Do not clip the thread. Instead, run it back through all the green and the center yellow beads until your thread is back at the beginning point of your necklace. Double knot the end through the first side of the fastening clasp. This second run-through will give more strength to the necklace to prevent breakage.
Finally, run the end of the thread back through three or four beads and trim the thread close to hide the end. Do the same with the original 6-inch end of thread.
These necklaces make great teacher gifts or, made with beads of school colors, are easy to sell at school sporting events for fund-raising activities.
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