Make sure when you're putting those glitzy little touches on your needlework to secure them well enough that they won't come off. When I'm beading, I use a floss color that matches my fabric (if you match the bead color, your bead will resemble a little bug with legs!) The fabric-colored floss will disappear, making the bead look like it's a natural part of the piece.

Using a beading needle small enough to pass through the beads, and generally one strand of floss, pass several times through stitching on the back of your piece. I make kind of a zigzag (three passes, alternating directions). Or, I pass under five or six stitches, then loop around through the end stitch again, and that holds nice and tight.

Make a full cross stitch through each bead if you want your bead to sit straight up and down, or just one half of a cross stitch if you want the bead to face diagonally. Don't carry your thread too far between beads, especially if you're not using a Q-Snap or needlework frame. The fabric will pucker if your thread is tighter than your fabric where you've carried it across the back.

Secure the end of your thread just like you started, zigzagging or making that loop back through, and snip off the extra.

I attach my charms almost the same way, securing at the beginning and end, and using a floss to match the fabric OR the charm. If you match the fabric with your floss, you can cover entirely that little loop on the charm, making it blend in with the fabric. Or you can use a gold or silver metallic fiber to match the loop on the charm. Occasionally you may need to secure the charm in another spot as well, to keep it from flipping up or twisting around. I usually use two strands of floss for charms and buttons.

I have used a few different methods of attaching buttons like those made by Just Another Button Company. You can match the floss to the part of the button where the holes are (so the thread disappears). I've also used black thread and actually tied a knot on the FRONT of the button, snipping and fraying the edges (which is really folksy looking.) And I've used a couple strands of floss and Colonial-Knotted the button on. (Bring your needle up through a hole, make a knot on the top of the button big enough that it doesn't pass through, and then back down and up through the other hole. Just repeat as needed.)

The holiday season is fast-approaching, and I hope you stay attached to your stitching. Take some time for you!

© 2007 Theresa Venette. Articles on this site may be reproduced in needlework group newsletters or other handouts with permission of author and proper attribution. Send questions, comments and suggestions to: xspeddler@yahoo.com