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St. Petersburg Chain Tutorial

Beaddoodler by Beaddoodler

St. Petersburg Chain is a Delicate Looking but Strong Bead Stitch

St. Petersburg Chain is a very sturdy, yet delicate looking chain. Worked from the center, it forms a beautiful V shaped strap suitable for a necklace alone, or as a strap for a beaded cabochon or a pendant

It can be worked with either Delicas, or Czech seed beads. Which ever you choose, be sure the holes are large enough to receive up to four passes of thread.

Start with twice the length of thread you're comfortable working with. Thread a needle on one end and pick up a stop bead. Slide the stop bead to the center of the thread and pass the thread through it two times to secure it.

Work with two colors of beads. Accent beads and Main Color beads. Pull the thread taut after each addition of beads. Spaces are left between beads in the illustrations for clarity.

St. Petersburg Chain Side One

St Petersburg 1Pick up 1 Accent bead and 6 Main Color beads. Pass the thread back through the third and fourth MC you picked up, aligning the beads as shown in the illustration.

Pick up 1 A, skip the A and pass back through 3 MC.

Pick up 1 A and pass through the two beads on the bottom row of the work.

Pick up 4 MC and pass back through the first two MC you just picked up. Repeat steps 2 through 4 until the chain is half the length you want your necklace.

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St. Petersburg Chain Side Two

St Petersburg 2Turn your work over and remove the stop bead. The bead with the bold outline is the start bead. Thread a needle on the other end of the thread. Skip the A and pass through 4 MC.

Pick up 2 MC and pass through the third and fourth MC and the A in the start row.

Skip the A and pass back through 3 MC.

Pick up 1 A, pass through 2 MC, pick up 4 MC and pass back through the first 2 MC you just picked up. Pull the thread taut. Repeat steps 2 through 4 until the second side is the same length as the first.

More St. Petersburg Chain Options

St. Petersburg Chain, like most stitches presents a wide range of variations beyond just using different size and shapes of beads. Inspirational Beading has a great tutorial on double St Petersburg Chain which is the stitch I used for the Briolette Earrings and Pendant in the picture. Of course, as with most stitches, I added a few adaptations of my own.

The Bead Doodler's Blog

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St. Petersburg Stitch

Watch this video for different bead sizes which give a different look to the St. Petersburg chain.
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  • Sylvestermouse Jan 12, 2012 @ 8:26 am | delete
    Really beautiful!
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Beaddoodler

Hello. My name is Jennie Hennesay AKA The Bead Doodler.
I'm interested in any kind of alternative healing and natural living.
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