Right-angle weave stitch, also known as RAW, is an
off-loom bead weaving technique.
Bead
A bead is a small, decorative object that is formed in a variety of shapes and sizes of a material such as stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood, or pearl and with a small hole for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under ...
s are stitched together with thread only making right angle turns, hence the name. The result is an almost fabric like piece of
beadwork
Beadwork is the art or craft of attaching beads to one another by stringing them onto a thread or thin wire with a sewing or beading needle or sewing them to cloth. Beads are produced in a diverse range of materials, shapes, and sizes, and vary b ...
. Right-angle weave can be woven with either one needle or two. With single needle right-angle weave, the thread path moves in a figure-eight pattern. For double needle right-angle weave, the threads cross each other along the center bead of each stitch as they head in opposite directions. RAW can be formed into flat pieces, tubes, or 3 dimensional figures. There are also variations on the basic stich like cubic right angle weave, or CRAW.
Seed bead
Seed beads or rocailles are uniformly shaped, spheroidal beads ranging in size from under a millimeter to several millimeters. ''Seed bead'' is also a generic term for any small bead. Usually rounded in shape, seed beads are most commonly used fo ...
s, fire polished beads and crystal beads are common choices in pieces using right-angle weave. Variations of the right-angle weave also include PRAW. CRAW is usually worked in sets of four, but in PRAW, sets can be expanded to over five.
History
RAW is said to have originated somewhere in Africa, but examples can be found in beadwork from many cultures, including Philippines, New Guinea and England.
Use
Bead artists are known to use right-angle weave stitch to cover
three-dimensional
Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informa ...
forms, such as vases, beads and other objects.
See also
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Brick stitch
Brick Stitch, also known as the Cheyenne Stitch or Comanche Stitch, is a bead weaving stitch in which individual beads are stacked horizontally in the same pattern as bricks are stacked in a wall.
The technique has been used by Native American ...
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Square stitch
Square stitch is an off-loom bead weaving stitch that mimics the appearance of beadwork created on a loom. Loom patterns and even cross stitch embroidery patterns may be used for square stitch pieces. Because each bead in a square stitch piece i ...
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Peyote stitch
The peyote stitch, also known as the gourd stitch, is an off-loom bead weaving technique. Peyote stitch may be worked with either an even or an odd number of beads per row. Both even and odd count peyote pieces can be woven as flat strips, in a ...
References
External links
Right-angle weave basics for beginnersRight-angle weave stitch techniques(archived link)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peyote stitch
Weaving
Beadwork