A special thanks to Mary Tosch for graciously sharing her directions for making beautiful beaded stilettos with our readers!
It was so fun to meet her in person, and her generosity just blew me away. Not only did she gift ME with one, but the two gals traveling with me, Fran & Nancy were also recipients of her giving spirit!
I did upload Mary’s directions as a PDF file, and you can click HERE to print it.
The photos and wording below are all Mary’s!
Materials:
-Turkey lacers, available at the grocery store
-Glass beads with holes largeenough for the lacer to fit
-Spacer beads metal or glass
-Aleene’s Jewelry & Metal Glue
-Needle nose pliers, round nose pliers
-Wooden clothes pin
- Magic Eraser
1. With round nose pliers, close the loop at the top of the lacer.
2. Starting with a small spacer bead, try different arrangements of the beads
until you find one you like. Once, you are satisfied, you are ready to glue.
3. A very small amount of Aleene’s Jewelry & Metal glue is needed for each
bead. I put a tiny dab between the loop and bead, then slide the bead into
position.
4. Add another a dab of glue, then slide your bead up snug against the previous
bead. Continue in this manner until all your beads are glued in place.
5. Using the wooden clothes pin to hold the stiletto upright, allow the glue to dry
completely, about 24 hours. There may be a white residue when the glue has dried.
6. Use the magic eraser to clean the residue off the beads.
7. If the bottom bead comes loose from use, place a dab of super glue between it and the prior beads.
Thank you Mary!! I love my stiletto, and I think these will make quick easy and beautiful gifts for quilting friends and family!
45 comments:
Thank you so much for the sharing of these directions. Grandma Cindy
Thank you Mary for sharing your lovely stilettos and for showing us how to make one of our own! So generous.
I really need one of these and I love to shop for craft supplies at the grocery store. Off to check my bead stash....
Bonnie, thanks for introducing us to Mary!
What a GREAT idea! Thanks to Mary for sharing her wonderful idea.... I will be making at least one as soon as I can get some turkey lacing do-hickeys!
How cool is this! Great idea for gifts,..can't wait to make myself one!
Thank you both for sharing. They are lovely. I will make at least one for sure. It is a lot prettier than my bamboo skewer.
That Mary is one clever lady! What a great idea, think I may need one of those myself! So generous of her to share, and of you Bonnie to introduce us all to Mary.
Faye in Maine
Thanks so much for sharing. Now I know what a stiletto for quilters is!
love the tute, thanks Mary!! i hoard beads too!! i'll add turkey lacers to my grocery list! :>)
Wow, what a special lady to share her craft. They are beautiful and seemingly easy, if you know what I mean!
Easy, beautiful and functional Christmas presents for my quilting buddies! Woo Hoo! Thanks for sharing such a great idea. I'm a bead horder too.
LOVE these. Does she sell them on any site?
Love this! Many thanks to Mary for sharing!
So pretty. And so easy. Thank you for sharing this pic and pattern. I know what I'll be doing this weekend for my quilt buddies.
carol
Guess who will be buying some Turkey Lacers at the store next time I go out... Thanks for sharing Mary's Tutorial.
Thank you, Mary, for the wonderful tutorial. Thank you, Bonnie, for sharing Mary with us. Can't wait to try this.
Now to go and visit at Mary's blog. . .
Thank you so much Mary for the wonderful tutorial. I was looking in my jewelry findings for a stiletto and did not find one. Clever idea!!!
Lovely! i think a crimp bead would hold them at the end too! I am gonna try if I can find these Turkey Lacers!
I love using stiletto'swhen I sew..I am lost without it. Can't wait to make one of these for a spare. Thanks for a great tute.
All the turkey lacer things I saw today were "L" shape on the end, not a circle. Then I remembered my cake tester had a circle end, but couldn't find any at all at Walmart. Guess I have to keep looking for some with the circle end. They are beautiful!! I thought about skewers, but the shaft is too thick and I don't think the beads would fit and they are way too long.
Thank you Mary for sharing your tutorial and thank you Bonnie for publishing it.
~Jillian in North Dakota
Oh my gosh! Since I saw the picture of these on your blog, I have wanted one and now I have instructions on how to make them. My quilting friends will all be getting one this fall, as I am unable to join them when they go to Pacific International and I want them to think of me when they use them.
Thanks Mary and thank you, Bonnie for all you share.
Anna in IL
Wow they are so pretty...thanks for sharing the tutorial....
I went out to Walmart right away got some Poultry Lacers - and I made 6 of them lickety split.... Not sure how to post a pic but they are awesome and the crimping a bead idea worked awesome. Had to use a bigger metal bone shaped bead and i scored the lacers with my snippers to help give this bead something to grip onto. This way too all the beads above my crimped bone bead all can move freely and can not fall off @ all! I will try to snap a photo of this file and post to my blog page - THANX sooooooooo much!!!!!!
I have been admiring these and now I can make my own to gift my quilty buddies. Thank you, Mary, for so kindly sharing with us.
Here are the ones I made last night
http://nightsandneedles.blogspot.ca/2012/04/stylin-stylus.html
Off to buy more big holed beads - squeeeeeee!!!
Your post had brought much joy to so many of us. Thank you for sharing! I am out to buy turkey lacers!
These stilettos are awesome, Mary. What a treat and gift you gave to Bonnie. And then, Bonnie for sharing your tutorial on making the stilettos. I am not good at this kind of art/craft work, but I am certainly going to make them for my quilting buddies for their Christmas gift. Again, thanks Bonnie for being out there and finding wonderful ways we can be enriched by your sharing all your works, contacts and quilting with all of us. Bravo, to both of you.
I cannot find the turkey lacers anywhere, been to 3 grocery stores
everyone is too young to understand what iw ant-LOL
but these are so beautiful
I can't find them either - I look everywhere I go. I did find 1 pack of the L shaped ones. Boo Hoo! :(
Thanks for the tutorial anyway.
I showed these to a "beading" friend, and she made me one! Thanks for the tutorial! I love mine, and my friend is now making plenty for friends and family!
Bonnie and Mary,
I posted earlier that I was going to make these for friends attending PIQF this fall. Well, tomorrow, I am gluing 22 of these things in preparation for getting them mailed before I leave for Des Moines on Wednesday. Thanks for sharing, both of you. I'll try and post pics on my blog.
Anna in IL
I found some turkey lacers at the Dollar Tree & then went to Jo-Ann's & bought some beads that were on 50% off. Well, the hole in the beads is not big enough to slip on the turkey threader. How can I know if beads will fit BEFORE buying them? I love these & want to make some for gifts.
I realize that this is an old blog post and therefore my post will not be seen by those that I am replying to in the comments but for those that read this post after I hope this helps if you are wanting to make one of these stilettos. I have not made one yet, but will as soon as I can get out and find a poultry/turkey lacer. As far as the beads go, there is a package a beads that are sold for making beaded necklaces where ribbon is used to lace them. They are very pretty and the holes are pretty large. In fact, I bought my beads for making hat pins to use in my cards that I make. These would not work for that because they hatpins are too small, but they would work perfect for these stilettos and they are what I will be buying to make them. I hope this is helpful for anyone looking to beads with a hole that is larger.
I just six of these and will be making many more for friends. Thanks for the tutorial!
Thank you, Erin. I just found this message and responses, and this helps.
I've been trying to find round basters since you first published this tut. Only square ones available. Have you ever tried to put a square peg in a round hold? Won't work. Any suggestions?
If you can't find the turkey lacer, you can order off of ebay. That's what I had to do. Make a couple of dozen and they make wonderful little picks for cheeses and such.
Those stilettos remind me of hat needles one of my grandmothers used. I still have a few and I'm glad now I found a purpose for them. Thanks and greetings from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
I found this very interesting. I had never heard of these (I live in the U.K.) I will certainly find them useful in my sewing,can@wait to make some.Many thanks. I hope i can purchase the turkey lacing tool here in the U.k.:)
I just purchased my lacers tonight. I can't wait to dig into my beads to make a stiletto. Thank you for sharing this wonderful idea.
Coleen
My girlfriends' sister makes something very similar to these and sells them at Markets, to be used as cake testers! I like both ideas, Pretty and practical!
Connie
winter1@syban.net
Thank you, Mary, for the instructions to make the pretty beaded stilettos. One of my girl friends gave me on a couple of years ago along with a square cloth basket for Christmas. I had no idea pretty beaded thing was a stiletto. Now I can put it to use when I'm sewing. I will have to tell her that I didn't know what it was except for a pretty little doodad.
I also had not heard of them. (I live in the U.S.A. in California) If you can't find a turkey lacing tool in a grocery store maybe you could find one in a specialty store that has lots of gadgets. Or how about a hardware store that might have something similar. Just a thought. Good luck with beading your stiletto.
Great idea for an alternate use.
Lorijeanne
I just came across a bag in my stash that had 11 sets of turkey lacers! I had gotten them for 10c each at a local grocery that was closing.
I checked several sites as to what I could do with them. I was thinking more in the way of a snowflake type ornament or something. I stumbled across the stiletto idea, and I love it!
My Mom was a seamstress her whole adult life, and she had a small pair of scissors that were used for all the tasks described. If those “little scissors” were misplaced, we looked til we found them! A stiletto could have been pushed right into a pin cushion! Can’t wait to make some!
Post a Comment
If you are commenting as "anonymous" please leave your name at the end of your comment.
Did you know that ad space on this blog provides for all of the free patterns and free mysteries and challenges at no cost to you? Without ads, this blog would not be possible.
Thank you for understanding the many hours that go into this blog 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year. :)