Beaded Embroidered Spider Web

This elegant beaded spider dangling from a sparkling web will lend your home a beautifully spooky touch. With shimmering beads and delicate stitching, it’s a little creepy, a little glamorous — and perfect for a handmade Halloween.

Supply List:

Black cotton fabric
Silver metallic embroidery ﬂoss
Small clear crystal beads (2 sizes optional)
One large red glitter or pavé bead
One medium red bead
Small red crystal beads
Gold bugle beads
Gold seed beads
Spacer beads
Gold wire
Tracing paper or white tissue paper
Spider web pattern

Prym Dressmaker Scissors
Dritz Needles
Dritz Heat Erase Marking Pen
Embroidery hoop
Stylus
Iron
Wire cutters
Needle-nose pliers

Instructions:

Beaded Spider

Step 1: Cut one piece of wire about 4” long for the body. Cut four pieces of wire about 6” long for the legs.

Step 2: Use needle nose pliers to twist a small loop in one end of the body. The loop should be smaller than ⅛”. Slide a spacer bead onto the wire down to the loop. Add large glitter bead for the body.

Step 3: Bend one of the 6” wires approximately in half and wrap it snugly around the body. Repeat for each of the leg wires.

Step 4: Add a medium red bead for the spider head, then add a spacer bead.

Step 5: Use needle nose pliers to twist a loop snugly against the spacer bead. Cut the end of the wire and tuck it into the bead using pliers.

Step 6: Starting with one of the eight legs, thread beads as follows:

Bugle bead, seed bead, red crystal bead, seed bead, bugle bead, seed bead.

Use pliers to twist a small loop snugly against the last bead. Cut off the wire and tuck into the bead using pliers. Repeat for each of the legs. The legs may spin a little around the body, but will remain in place once stitched down onto the project.

The Spider Web

Tips for working with metallic thread: Metallic thread tends to unravel and fray easily. Try working with shorter lengths at a time (e.g., the distance from hand to elbow). Pay close attention to the thread at both the front and the back to minimize twisting and fraying.

Step 7: Using tracing paper and stylus, trace the spider web pattern onto the black fabric. Or, use a heat-erase pen to hand-draw the web.

Step 8: Embroider the spider web using a single strand of silver metallic thread, making long stitches. For the curves, leave the stitched thread slightly loose, then use one to three small stitches across the thread to tack it down and guide the thread along the curve.

Step 9: Sew the beads in a random pattern along the strands of the spider web. If desired, use two sizes of beads for variety and interest. Be sure to leave space for the beaded spider.

Step 10: Position the spider on the web with the head facing down, and bend the legs as pictured. To “hang” the spider, take the threaded needle through the fabric at the top of the web, through the two loops at the ends of the spider’s two back legs, and back down through the fabric. Make one more pass through the loops to secure in place.

Step 11: Sew down each of the remaining legs by stitching through the loop at the end of the leg. Use a blow dryer or other heat source to eliminate any heat-erasable marks. Frame as desired.