These resources come courtesy of the Beadworkers Guild and the International Beading Week (IBW) website.

The Beadworkers Guild is a registered charity dedicated to supporting and promoting the art of beadweaving and is open to bead workers and bead artists everywhere. The aims of the Guild are to support the exchange of ideas and knowledge among beadworkers and to promote beadwork to the general public.

If you haven’t come across IBW before, here is a short explanation about what it is:

“International Beading Week started as a little acorn of an idea, in a Beadworkers Guild Journal meeting some years ago, and has grown and grown into a worldwide event that celebrates our passion for stitching with beads. The original ethos of our idea was (and still is) to educate and encourage the wider public to participate in beading, to support bead traders so we could continue to have an excellent source of supplies and to have some fun sharing our passion with others in our local area."

Source - https://www.nationalbeadingweek.co.uk/about-ibw.php

Here you can access some free instructions for the most common stitches used in beadwork. Each instruction sheet can be downloaded and printed so you can refer to them at any point.

Click here to see a list of basic stitch instructions for Peyote, Herringbone, Square Stitch, Brick Stitch, Right AngleWeave, Chenille, Netting, St. Petersburg and Bead Embroidery

Here you can find blank bead graph paper, specifically designed to help you design your own patterns, depending on the stitch you wish to use. Again, you can download these and print them out to help you get really creative!

Click here to download blank bead graph paper to help with charting your designs

Here you can find all the free patterns and tutorials available on the IBW website. There is a huge variety of different necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pendants and other beaded items to choose from, and all using different types of beads and stitching techniques.  

Click here to see all the IBW pattern and tutorial downloads