The
Spiral Braid Stitch |
Usually used when making lanyards, the Spiral Braid stitch is also created
using 4 strands of scoubidou. It's cousin, the Diamond Braid, is actually the EXACT SAME
STITCH. Only the initial placement of the strands differs. While lanyards
usually require yards of scoubidou, a couple feet of scoubidou can be used to
create bracelets, key chains, and just about anything else you can imagine.
This was one of the toughest stitches to SHOW YOU ALL how to make, as it
required me to think quite creatively when I was videoing the segments used to
create the snapshots you see below. It is for this reason that the initial
stitch may not look as good as you should be able to make it look, as I had to
leave stitches loose, and move my hands out of the way, so you could see what I
was doing. This page's photo snapshots look a bit nicer and hopefully are a bit
easier to understand, but check out the Diamond
Braid page as well for further guidance.
You'll need a
couple additional items before making this stitch:
- Two
strands of scoubidou:
- 3-4
yards each, if making a lanyard.
- 4-6
feet each, if making smaller projects.
- An
8-10 inch strand of scoubidou <OR> a safety-pin <OR> a
push-pin.
- A
lanyard hook <OR> a swivel hook.
- A
paper-clip.
If you've ever made a friendship bracelet using needlepoint floss you'll be
familiar with the first step in doing this stitch. The Spiral and Diamond Braids both need to be ANCHORED
at one end, while you are doing the stitch. If you're near a desk, chair, tree
root, or something else made of wood, use the Push-Pin to create your anchor.
If you're without these, and are wearing a pair of pants, sit Indian Style on
the ground and pin a safety-pin to your pant cuff and use that as your anchor.
If you're wearing shorts, then tie the 8-10 inch strand of scoubidou around
your ankle and use that as your anchor. Whichever method you choose, you want
to create a place where you can pull the strands tight to keep the Braid
looking uniform from start to finish. This is a tough stitch to successfully
make LOOK good from beginning to end, but if you take your time and PRACTICE,
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, you'll get the hang of it.
If this is your first time making this stitch, I'd suggest starting with
strands that are about 4-feet long, which will fold in half to 2-feet. This
way, you'll have enough to practice with and if you decide this one is too
tough, or it isn't what you wanted to do, you won't have wasted all that scoubidou!
All right, without further adieu, here's how to do the most requested stitch
I've been asked for!
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Note the
TOP of this shot shows a lanyard hook, through which our two strands of scoubidou
are placed. I pushed a push-pin into my computer desk, and then used the 8-10
inch loop of scoubidou to create a loop through the top of the lanyard hook
and around the push-pin. By pulling the four strands of scoubidou, I was able
to pull this loop taught against the push-pin and use that as the anchor
while doing this stitch. |
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Note the
initial placement of the strands in this shot. Notice how we start with one
color, then alternate with the second color, back to the first color, and
then finish with the second color. Also note how both LEFT strands come from
UNDER the lanyard hook, while both RIGHT strands come from OVER the lanyard
hook. This layout is VERY IMPORTANT to the successful completion of the
Spiral Braid. |
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Alright,
to start, we take the RIGHT-most strand, the pink one here, and place it
UNDER the two central strands... |
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...and
then come AROUND and ON TOP OF the LEFT-most central strand, which is also
pink. |
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Now take
the LEFT-most strand, a baby-blue one here, and place it UNDER the same two
central strands... |
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...and
bring it AROUND and ON TOP OF the RIGHT-most central strand, which is also
baby-blue in color. |
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After
repeating the above FOUR steps, we've completed another stitch, a PINK
stitch. We've completed a stitch of Spiral Braid when BOTH CENTRAL STRANDS
are the same color. |
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On our way
to completing another stitch, but notice how the central strands are NOT both
the same color. We're only half done with this stitch... |
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...so
after completing the same BEHIND CENTER 2, AROUND AND ON TOP OF maneuver,
we've completed another stitch, a BLUE stitch this time. |
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So, let's
do this one more time SLOWLY. We're ready to do another PINK stitch. Can you
tell WHICH of the pink strands we'll need to work with? It's the top most
strand, the one on the right in this shot. Notice how it's also the one that
is NOT currently surrounded by baby-blue strands. |
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Start by
taking this strand and bend it to go BEHIND the two central baby-blue
strands... |
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...and
then bend it to go AROUND and ON TOP OF the left-most baby-blue strand (the
farthest central strand). |
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After
pulling tight, we can see this PINK stitch is half completed, and we're ready
to start working with the other pink strand, the one on the left. |
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This
strand also gets bent to go BEHIND the two central strands... |
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...and
bent again to go AROUND and ON TOP OF the right-most central strand(the pink
one) which also happens to be the farthest central strand. |
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After
pulling tight, we're done with another PINK stitch of Spiral Braid. |
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Here's
about an inch of completed Spiral Braid. Notice how it differs from it's cousin, Diamond Braid? All because of the
initial placement of those four scoubidou strands! Continue until you've
created as much as you need! For now, when you're done, tie a granny knot
using the two UPPERMOST strands, which should BOTH be the SAME color, to
complete the work. I'll show you a better way to end this stitch in a while.
;-) |
The Spiral Braid Stitch!
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