Appalachian Trail

Sample by Beadshop.com Staff, designed by Kate Richbourg

The Appalachian Trail stretches from the state of Georgia all the way to Maine! Lush forests and majestic mountains, it’s a feature of the Eastern US that is both a serious hiker's dream challenge and offers plenty for the everyday tourist as well. This time of year, the trail is turning colors...the leaves turn their autumn hues. Celebrate this magical time of year in this beautiful wrap.

Appalachian Trail is designed to be a 6 wrap bracelet, 46 inches in length when finished. This will accommodate an average 7.5" wrist. Adjust the length accordingly to fit your own wrist!

1. Leather is cut into one 92" length and bent in half. The button is positioned in the middle and is the starting point for the project. Use C-Lon to silk wrap the button in place, and also hide the tail of your Infinity Stitch thread (KO) under.

2. Use KO thread to Infinity stitch 8/0 Miyuki seed beads for roughly 5 inches. We added one of our new TierraCast Stitch-In Connector Link components with pre-wire wrapped bead units. Bring your stitching thread right through the links of the beads, they take the place of three side-by-side 8/0 seed beads. SO clever! At the end of this section, add a roller bead over the remaining KO and leather "tails" to bring it all together. 
3. Next, cut about 3 yards of CLon and do a beaded macramé (Bollywood technique) over the leather and KO thread tail for another 5 inches or so, then add another roller bead over the Leather and C-Lon to end this section. You can cut the KO that was running underneath the macramé stitch after it has been held in place by a centimeter or so of macramé knots.  Keep your C-Lon! You’ll ladder with the remaining C-Lon in the next section.
4. Coat the ends of the remaining C-Lon with beeswax and angle cut it to ladder 8/0s using Traditional Laddering. Another wire wrapped bead unit on a Stitch-In Link is laddered in as well. This Ladder portion took up 4 inches or so. Before creating the macramé knots to end this section, add more KO thread to use in the next section, and flat macramé knot over the KO and leather to finish. Secure it with GS Hypo Cement. 
5. Infinity stitch this beaded section with Czech Glas, Quarter Tilas, and Seed Beads using the KO. This section spans about 7.5-8" in length. Add a roller bead and a silk wrap with C-Lon and glue to secure the KO thread underneath. 
6. Cut a new piece of C-Lon about 2 yards in length and create another Bollywood section 5.5" in length. Add more KO thread to the leather towards the end to use in your final section. To conceal where the ends of the Bollywood C-Lon end and where the KO is introduced, create another silk wrap with C-Lon. 
7. For the remaining portion, Infinity stitch with KO, breaking up the pattern halfway through (the length here will depend on your wrist size).  To end, flat macramé knot with the remaining KO thread and conceal it with another silk wrap using C-Lon. 
8. We chose to add more bead units to dangle from the button, and then finished with one final silk wrap before creating the button loop. 
9. The button loop was measured and overhand knotted with the remaining leather tails, and then secured with GS Hypo Cement. 

Find quantities and general shopping categories for the ingredients used in the Appalachian Trail listed above. Specific products can be found in the shoppable windows for easy shopping. Find our other Tricks to Laddering samples here.

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