Fran, What kind of edging were you thinking of? On the edge or near the edge, straight or fancy? Most glass beads are washable but not all. You will have some problems with the rochelle or metallic lined beads as the center lining over time can wash out. With beads on hanks that feel gritty or feel dirty you might want to wash some of beads as there are some that have just a coating for color and not the glass itself. I once bought a hank of clear beads with what appeared to be a red hole. The seller sold it as a specialty bead. They had also restrung the beads because the previous thread had broken. The previous thread was red and the holes of the beads had dye pigments. To say the least the first time I washed the veil I ended up with clear beads and a pink edge. There is a specific thread for beading that is designed to take the wear and tear of the beads. Currently black and white are the most common thread colors but companies are slowly coming out with other colors. Cotton threads, quilting threads, basic sewing threads are not recommended (learned that lesson on a beaded smocked top). You might as well get the loose seed beads as the thread on 99% of hanks are just to keep the beads together. (Though at times you can find a better deal with the hanks as most hanks are equal to 2 1/2 loose bead tubes) It can be time consuming but it is recommended that the thread you use for the beading work be no more then 12" in length, basically stitch down in small sections so that if for some reason the thread breaks you don't loose a large part of the beadwork. Hope this helps, De
-----Original Message----- I've often seen beads on 1920s dresses machine sewn on. When the thread pulls through thin fabric, leaving a string of beads, I couch them down over the thread because it's easiest. I wanted these beads for an entirely different project, to add to the edges of brocade ribbon. Maybe I can just buy beaded ribbon! Fran Lavolta Press _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
