Learning Peyote Stitch: Inspired by the Great Jean Power

Peyote stitch is many peoples’ favorite for a reason! Our Editorial Coordinator, Gabby Axner, has been learning peyote stitch over the last few weeks with a variety of creative projects. Check out her toe ring, beaded anklet, and tubular peyote accent for hoop earrings to see how she’s been progressing! While Gabby has a long way to go until she reaches the level of mastery of experts like Jean Power, she’s well on her way and we love to see how she’s already fearlessly applying what she knows in creative ways.

A few years ago, Jean Power shared her love of peyote stitch with us as a guest writer. Here’s what she had to say about why she loves peyote stitch:

Peyote Stitch In Jean’s Words:

Almost since I first began beading, my love of the craft goes hand in hand with my love of peyote stitch. Though I found it tricky to master at the start, now my brain just seems to work in peyote. I can do every other stitch, and often design in them when called upon, but give me a needle and thread and peyote stitch is what appears.

Whether it is the satisfaction as a cylinder bead ‘snaps’ into place, or the ease with which geometric shapes can grow, or even just the way those little spaces sit there waiting to be filled, peyote stitch never bores me, nor do I run out of ideas to use it. I even find that the little nuances of the stitch can be seen as a challenge. How do I incorporate this into my design? An example is taking those not-always-as-smooth-as-you-would-like increases and making them a major design element by turning them into corners, horns, angles, or points.

Peyote stitch can be smooth, textured, straight or twisted, soft and subtle or hard and angular. I see no difference as it flows from flat to tubular and back again. How did I get like that? To me it was simple–I put in a lot of hours beading with peyote stitch. I now view it like I do a full fridge: I can open the door and know that I can create something wonderful from a set of ingredients without having to read a label or weigh an item. Along with all that beading came a lot of experimenting and a lot of observing.

‘What would happen if I did this…,’ is constantly on my mind. And then put in the time experimenting to see what would happen. It doesn’t always work, but I make a mental note and add that knowledge to the bank. I don’t know when it will become useful, but it’s there and waiting for me!

I greatly admire other designers whose brains work in other stitches, Marcia DeCoster with right-angle weave, or Dustin Wedekind with square stitch, for example. When I see their work, I wonder how they do that! It’s like magic. And then I go back to peyote stitch and stitch a design in hopes it creates the same sense of awe.

Favorite Projects from Jean Power

Jean’s peyote prowess is undisputed. She was a Beadwork Designer of the Year and specializes in creative, geometric applications of peyote stitch. Here are a few of our favorite projects from Jean:

What stitch did you start with? Which stitches do you love now? Share in the comments!

Originally published on 4/10/2017. Updated 9/30/2022.

Learn from Jean Power