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Oh, and I try to write.

– Dorota
Crafty Bead / Always allergic to boring patterns

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Ever seen those gorgeous flat beaded bracelets and thought: “I could never do that”?
Well, let me stop you right there – you totally can. Even count peyote is an easy stitch for beginners. It’s simple, repetitive (in a good way), and surprisingly forgiving.

Once you have mastered the basics you can move on to different variations, such as decreasing, so you can shape your work or make peyote earrings, which almost always require decreasing.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through:
⬦    comparison of even and odd peyote stitch
⬦    how even count peyote works
⬦    how to start your first rows without panicking
⬦    how to make turns

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🧵 What is even (and odd) count Peyote Stitch?

Peyote stitch is a very popular flat beading technique that lets you build neat, repeating designs using only a needle, thread, and tiny beads. You stitch bead by bead, arranging them in rows, once from left to right, once from right to left.

There are two main versions of this stitch – even and odd:

Today, we’ll stick with the even count peyote stitch and save the odd one for later – you know, to let your brain catch its breath and your fingers get comfy with this one first.
But first, a quick comparison of both stitches:

The difference between even and odd peyote is the number of all columns and therefore beads in the rows.

In even peyote, the number of columns will always be... TA-DA!... even, and beads in each row will always be the same. Depending on the pattern, it may be an even or odd number of beads, like 10 to the right, 10 to the left OR 7 to the right, 7 to the left – both have an even number of columns.

In odd peyote the number of columns will be odd and beads in rows will be different by 1. Like 10 to right, 9 to left OR 7 to right and 6 to left.

Therefore, the turns between rows in even peyote will always be the same on the left and right side of the project, while odd peyote requires a "tricky turn" on one side. 
So in even peyote all rows, in both directions always start from the first column.
The beginning of the beadwork is also different. Even peyote I always start from the left side of a project, odd peyote from the right.

⚠️ Pro tip:

The first few rows (especially rows 1–5) might look a bit lopsided and loose. Don’t freak out. That’s just the nature of peyote. It will tighten and straighten as you go. Feel free to tighten the thread, but do not do it by force, be gentle because a thread that is too tight will cause the beadwork to wrinkle and the thread itself may break later when wearing the bracelet or earrings.

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🔹 Step-by-Step: Starting Your Peyote Stitch

For a better understanding, each row is marked with a different color - A, B, C...
Of course, there will be no gaps between the beads in your beadwork. In this tutorial, I have spaced them apart so that you can see how the thread runs through them.

Step 1: Load up row 1 and 2

We'll start from bottom left corner of the pattern:
⬦   string all beads from row 1&2 (colors A and B) on a thread, according to pattern, from left to right
⬦   if you are using a graph chart, thread the beads alternately, one from the row 2, one from the row 1
⬦   yes, due to the layout, the 1st bead goes from the row 2, the 2nd bead from the row 1, 3rd from row 2, 4th from row 1, and so on

This will give you your base row – all loose, but hang in there:

Step 2: Time for row 3 (finally, actual peyote begins)

Now we need to make first turn, so you will work from right to left:
⬦   string 1st bead (C) from row 3
⬦   skip last bead you added previously (A) and stick your needle into 2nd bead (B)
⬦   add to thread 2nd bead (C) from row 3
⬦   skip 3rd bead (A) and stick a needle into 4th bead (B)
⬦   continue row 3 to the end

Now your beadwork starts to lock into place. You’ll see the pattern forming and your bead sanity meter rising.
 

Step 3: And now… row 4

So now it's time to make a  second turn and row 4. Exactly the same as on the right side, turn again and repeat the same process, but now working left to right.
Everything behaves better now because the beads are already aligned. You’re officially peyote-ing!

The rule is always the same. You skip the 1st bead from previous row and insert the needle into the 2nd, 4th, and so on.

And that's the whole even count peyote 😉
Now you just have to add more rows until you reach the very top of the bracelet.

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🎯 Final Notes

Even peyote stitch is one of those magical techniques that’s easy to learn, relaxing to repeat, and hard to stop once you get going.
And if your first few rows are messy?
You’re not failing. You’re just beading like a human.

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🎞️ Video tutorial

THIS VIDEO will show you how to do an even count peyote stitch and give you some tricks.

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💬 Want to try it for real?

Grab one of my beginner-friendly peyote patterns (Warning: they are addictive 😏) and some cute tiny Delica beads.

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