How to Make a Quiet Book: Bead Ladder
About Allison:
I met my husband Ben traveling overseas together while we
both attended Texas A&M. We married in 2009 and have two little darlings,
Mali Joy (22 months) and Tenley Grace (7 months), and a Hippo who we
affectionately refer to as “Bippo.”
During the day I manage property taxes for telecommunication
companies and my husband divides his time between financial planning and
teaching. In the evenings we are busy spending time with our sweet girls and
putting some TLC back into our home.
When I’m not working and mothering, I’m drooling over DIY ideas at Young House Love and pining over the
idea of a double jogging stroller for runs with my little misses.
How to Make a Bead Ladder
Quiet Book Page
Disclaimer:
I have a bad habitat of thinking I can do anything and
everything, I took on this project with little sewing experience and in the
middle of our office renovation. Which really means I moved twice as slow and
found myself sewing on a 2x10 held up by sawhorses. I was so thankful to Laura
for graciously let me practice creativity with 19 other mommies. I know my
pages didn’t turn out perfect but I’m growing. Maybe when my daughters are
getting married they will ask me to sew their wedding dresses (with beaded
detail of course).
Supplies:
- 2.5 yard of Pellon Peltex 70 Ultra Firm Stabilizer (cut into 8.5 x 10 pages)
- 3 sheets of green stiffened felt
- 2 rolls of brown Ribbon (ladder legs) – desired width
- 3 rolls of 1/8in. brown ribbon (ladder rungs)
- Thread to match (green and brown)
- 1 Large bag of mixed beads
Crafting Tools:
- Rotary Cutter
- Straight Edge
- Sewing Machine
- Thread Cutter
- Pins
Inspiration:
I duplicated the Counting Ladder over at Sugar Bee
Crafts. Why improve on what was already amazing?!
Page Assembly:
1. Cut
Pellon pages to size with a rotary cutter. If you have a
cutting mat, use it – I improvised with a diaper box because one, I’m cheap and
two, I have a plethora of boxes with two little ones.
2. While
you still have your rotary cutter out, cut 20 1.5 in strips of the stiffened
green felt for the grass. Set aside.
3. Presort
beads into color groups and pick your pattern accordingly. The mixed bag I
selected had more of some colors than others – not important if you are only
doing a couple pages, but with 20 pages you don’t want to get to the last page
and run out of 10 beads in the same color.
4. Bag
your beads.
5. Pull
out one set of beads and lay them out in lines from 1 -10 on a sheet of Pellon
to determine how wide and tall you want your ladder legs. Mark accordingly on
the Pellon - I drew out lines that would run down the middle of the ribbon I
was using for the legs to help me pin the rungs later.
6. Cut
40 strips of ribbon for the ladder legs to size. Pair up and set aside.
7. With
your leg height and width determined, you can now measure and cut the ribbon
for the ladder rungs. I cut an extra ¼ in. on each side to allow for easier
sewing and pinning once the beads where added.
8. Now
that everything has been prepped the tedious task of stringing and pinning 20
sets of beaded ladder rungs begins. Maybe I’m paranoid, maybe I just don’t want
my daughter growing up thinking 10 beads really is 11 but I found myself
recounting the beads about every 5 seconds (okay maybe 30).
9. Sew
down the ladder rungs – I used a zigzag stitch because I thought it would hold
up to toddlers pulling on the beads better and I didn’t want to send 19 other
mommies a choking hazard.
10. Remove the 400 pins that
were used on the rungs and resist the urge to poke an eye out with one (can you
tell I don’t sew often?)
11. Trim the ribbon used for
the rungs to ensure none of it will stick out of the side of the ribbon being
used on the legs.
12. Center and pin the
ladder legs over the zigzag stitch that was just sewn for the rungs.
13. Sew up and down both
sides of the leg ribbon, reinforcing the rungs so no beads come loose and find
their way into little mouths.
14. Pin down and sew grass–
trim accordingly. I found it easier to trim the sides to 8.5 in. after I had
sewn everything together.
15. Clean up, double check
the bead count again and enjoy.
True Story – my oldest daughter pulled the first finished
page off the table and started counting to nine. She has never done this. How
is that for instant gratification?!
Up Next: The Grand Finale: Susan's Pistachio Thumbprint Cookie Recipe
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