Kasut Manek Beading Tutorial – Part 2: How To Bead The Outline

Continuing from Part 1—Preparing the Canvas Frame, this is the second step in making Kasut Manek: stitching the traced outlines with beads.

Stay tuned for the next steps:
Part 3 – Filling in the Design
Part 4 –Measuring Your Foot (Final Step)

Now that you’ve set up your frame and traced the shoe vamp, it’s time to bead the outline of the design—just like in the picture below.

This post may contain affiliate links, and we may earn a commission on purchases made through them at no extra cost to you.
Thank you!

What You’ll Need:

How to Stitch the Beaded Outline

The method here is a simple backstitch but with beads!

1. Thread your needle (double strand), then tie a big knot at the end to secure it on the Aida cloth.
2. Bring the needle up about two bead lengths away (eyeball it) from your starting point.
3. Pick up two beads and stitch them back to the starting point.
   (I didn’t get the best picture of this, so just imagine the last bead in the row is where you begin!)
4. Continue backstitching with two beads per stitch. The beads may look crooked at first, but don’t worry—we’ll fix that soon!

Now, keep going:
Bead… backstitch… bead… backstitch… (you get the idea 😉).

Straightening the Beads (The Magic Step)

Once you’ve finished a line of beads, run your needle through them again. Make sure your thread is long enough to go from one end to the other. Since your needle might not be long enough to do this in one go, do it in batches of about 15 beads at a time.

As you pull the thread through… voila! The beads will line up perfectly, no more zigzag!

Only the top and bottom outlines need beading since the sides will be glued to the sole. If you’re making a closed-toe design, you’ll only bead one border per vamp.

Next Step: Part 3 – Fill Up The Design!

Now that the border is done, it’s time for the fun part—beading the actual pattern!