Beaded Embroidery - The Lazy Stitch

For anyone who consistently reads my blog, you know that I am intrigued and fascinated by all different kinds of handiwork.  I'm always on the look out for the different things people create and sometimes I stumble upon artwork in the most unlikely of places.

Tuesday night, at my 14 year old son's last baseball game, one of the other moms, a new friend of mine,  was working on a beautiful piece of beaded embroidery.  She sat in her lawn chair while the boys warmed up and set to work creating a beautiful beaded flower.  Of course I had a million questions for her but I never asked her if the type of embroidery had a name.

All week I've been thinking about her handiwork so today I sent her a text and told her that I'd love to see what it looked like when it was finished.  I knew she had to be almost done with it as it was to be given as a gift during an Indian Naming Ceremony that was taking place this weekend.  It was to be attached to a neck tie and given to the child's godfather.  This is the picture she sent me of her almost completed piece of work.

This time, I did ask her what the name of the embroidery technique is.  It's called Lazy Stitch.  If you do an internet search on it, there are many You Tube videos showing the "how to" and also many articles on the history of this Native American craft.  I'm not one who can watch a video and teach myself so I asked my friend if this is something she'd be willing to teach a Non-Native person.  She said, "Absolutely!"  I can't wait until my first lesson!

"Lazy stitch beadwork is one of the simplest beadwork techniques.  It is good for covering large areas in a relatively short period of time.  That is not to say that it is easy to do correctly or fast.  It is neither.  Like all craft techniques, experience and skill determine the beauty of the finished result."  -www.matoska.com