Beaded Square Stitch Tutorial

Select your beads. As I mentioned you can use either Czech or Japanese seed beads, but the holes in them must be large enough to accommodate at least four passes of the thread. All beads will have three passes and some will have four. Trying to force the needle through too small a hole in the bead can result in a broken bead.
There are two ways to start square stitch. The first one I find suitable for a narrow project. Thread a comfortable length of thread into a needle and tie on a stop bead. Pick up the number of beads in the width of your project.
Pick up two beads, pass through the last two beads in row one, then back through the two beads you just picked up. *Pull the slack out of your thread after each addition, but don't tighten it up so much that you can't get the needle between the beads when you work the next row.

Pick up one bead and slide it into position. Pass backward through the two beads directly below it, then pass forward through the last two beads in the row you're working. This is called a set and although you only add one bead, four beads are involved in each set. This prevents gaps in your work.

Continue in this fashion, adding one bead at a time until you've finished the row.

Repeat from step 3, adding two beads at the beginning of each row. You can turn your work to start each row if you want to, but I find it easier to hold my work vertically and just work up and down on the same side.

The second method of starting is easier for a wide project because you don't have to wrestle with that long string of beads on the first row.

Start as usual with a stop bead. Pick up four beads and pass back through the first two added making two 2-bead stacks . At this point you can see that your working thread is coming out of the bottom row, and you want it to come out of the top row.

Pass back through one top bead as shown, through one bottom bead as shown and then through both top beads. Now your thread is positioned correctly. This is the only time you'll have to do this figure eight.

Pick up two beads, pass backward through one bottom bead, one top bead and the first bead you added in this step. Repeat this step until you have as many beads as the width of your project calls for. You now have a stable 2-row start to work with.

Start each new row with 2 beads, then add one bead at a time as in step three of start method one.