Recently someone sent me a picture of a pair of earrings asking which stitch was used to make them. It was someone familiar with brick stitch, but the bead count was different. Instead of using a 3 bead or 1 bead foundation row and then stacking the rows 1 bead wide, these were made with 2 bead wide rows which resulted in an elongated diamond shape. To learn about foundation rows and how brick stitch is done, check out my previous article Basic Beading- Brick Stitch Earrings.

The examples above were done using size 11 seed beads in strongly contrasting colors. Each one is based off the same pattern, a simple diamond shaped with an 8 bead wide foundation row.


The long and really long versions were done by using 2 and 3 beads instead of one and treating them as one bead.


What is it good for? Well, for one thing, you could link sections the same width using the same geometric pattern to make a necklace or bracelet. Using a 2 bead stitch makes a nice dramatic earring with fringe, using the 3 bead stitch makes something very close to shoulder duster earrings even before fringing and the wider your foundation row, the longer the earrings! The long, narrow 3 bead stitch is also good for leaves and the 2 bead stitch reminds me of fireweed leaves. You could also weave the ends of the 2 or 3 bead wide stitch together to make interesting hoop shaped earrings. It's another shape that's done with a very basic stitch to add to your library of shapes to build into designs.

I created some graph paper so you can graph out your own designs. It's 12 bead wide diamond shapes. Right click to save the 2 separate image files.


You remember how I said the wider the base row the longer the finished diamond if you are using 2 or 3 bead rows? Well, the 3 bead is too long to post in the article. Click the link to save the graph paper and use your back button to come back here.
3 Bead Brick Stitch Diamond Graph Paper

As a bonus, all 3 graphs twice each on one page to print.
Full sheet of brick stitch diamond bead graphs in 1, 2 and 3 bead rows

You might enjoy my Kindle book about brick stitch earrings.