Recently, I've been seeing many pictures of some amazing bead embroidery projects; so, of course I had to try it out! And what better is there to make with pretty shiny beads than a galaxy? Certainly nothing. With a free, plain bag open for customization, I had to make something! So here this is!

Supplies

Beads of all sorts: clear, transparent, colorful, fun shapes, large, tiny, etc
Colorful embroidery thread
Thin sewing thread
Scissors
Colored tulle (light pink, hot pink, purple)
Lace ribbon
Sewing/embroidery needle
Base fabric (only needed if you aren't embroidering directly onto a bag--I chose a dark purple)
A bag

Step 1: Design

I chose to make a spiral galaxy for my design, and above you can see the final design and the basic color areas of the design. On the very outside of my galaxy, I have the darkest colors--being deep purples and blacks, followed by deep pinks inside the outside layer. Inside that, there are lighter pinks that fade into deep yellows/golds, and then even brighter yellows at the center. In the center of my galaxy, I put a large star bead, and I also included a shooting star off to the side, all to give a more space-like look.

Some tips I have for making this are:

Make spiral patterns and shapes! A spiral galaxy's most noteworthy trait is its spirals, so you must follow basic spiral patterns with your beading
Have the lightest beads at the center--the center of a galaxy will be the brightest, so make sure to have extremely light yellows or whites at the very center to get that look
Make a gradient from light and warm to cool and dark. My color progression was, from the very center to the very outside of my galaxy: light yellow, darker yellow, oranges/reds, light pink, hot pink, purple, and black. It's very important to maintain general color progressions to get a more accurate galaxy appearance
Use thin thread!!! Tiny beads do not easily thread onto thread thicker than sewing thread, so make sure you use the thinnest thread that you have available!

Step 2: Background Colors

As seen above, I laid out placements for the background layer of colors. This step helps add some layering and guidelines for colors, and helps you not so much need to absolutely fill your fabric with beads to get a basic outline for your galaxy.

On top of a dark purple fabric, I laid a single layer of purple tulle cut into an organic shape as a base for my galaxy. I made some spiral shapes with other colors of tulle--a thick spiral of light pink tulle, some yellow tulle accents, a hot pink tulle spiral, and a simple band of hot pink fabric across the bottom and part of the top of my galaxy.

To secure these pieces down (shown in the second photo), I stitched the pieces roughly in place in the simplest possible way: enter from under the fabric (with a threaded needle), pull the needle through to the top of the fabric, then at most a centimeter away from the entrance point, stick and pull the needle back to the bottom of the fabric. I made a simple graphic (above) for a visual of that easy stitch!

Step 3: Beading: A; How to Bead Embroider

Beaded embroidery is embroidery with a single extra step--adding a bead! To bead embroider, first enter the fabric from below with a threaded needle. Once your needle is above the fabric, thread a bead onto the needle (shown above) and insert the needle back through the fabric to the bottom. Pull the thread taut, and your bead is secure!

Step 4: Beading: B; Center

In the center of my galaxy, I beaded a central yellow star, surrounded by several off-white and gold beads for a bright, glowing center look. Beyond this, I placed white beads along my light pink spiral and added some red and hot pink beads outside the very center. In the area not within the bounds of the light pink band, I placed some darker beads for higher contrast.

Step 5: Beading: C; Spirals

To emphasize the "spiral" part of my spiral galaxy, I made some simple lengths of beads that I stitched in a curved shape. To make these curved lines, I threaded a bunch of beads onto one length of thread and secured them into a straight line in whatever general direction that I want them to be in. Next, as seen in the second photo, I made numerous smaller stitches (without any beads on them) along the length of the line to secure the line into a curve. I repeated this step many times with different colors to make several curved lines to accentuate the spiral.

Step 6: Beading: D; Shooting Star

As an extra detail, I added a cute and simple shooting star. To do this, I beaded on a star bead (you can just embroider on a star if you don't have one), and embroidered simple straight stitches of various colors as the trailing flame. For the trail, I did a fade from, in order: yellow, orange, red, pink, blue, to purple. This gives the effect of flames dying out progressively, akin to how a shooting star looks.

Step 7: Beading: E; Exterior

With all the swirls and spirals in and around the galaxy, I added several various darker beads leading outwards, darker the further out I placed them. In the darker purple area, I placed many dark accent beads to accentuate the darkness of those areas, and added more lighter beads within the galaxy. In a few areas, I placed lighter-colored beads farther out for further contrast and detail.

Make sure to maintain a general spiral pattern!! If you make trails of beads go vertical when your spiral goes horizontal, you'll mess up the flow and shape of your spiral! Keep this in mind as you place your beads as you see fit.

Additionally, much of this beading process is only planned in terms of what colors go where--otherwise, it's entirely up to you on what shape, size, or orientations you have for your beads!

As a note: I used no green colored beads, and only purple-leaning blue beads wherever I used blue. Mainly, this was to keep the color scheme and warm-to-cool progression, though this is optional.

Lastly, make sure to tie off any loose thread ends so that your stitches don't become undone.

Now, your embroidery is finished!

Step 8: Attach to Bag

If you embroidered directly onto your bag, then you get to skip this step! However, I didn't, and so must attach my purple fabric to my white bag. To do so, I roughly cut out the shape of my bag into my fabric, leaving some overhang.

Then, I laid out some hot glue along the edge of my bag (sewing it on is perfectly fine), and folded over the overhang to make a clean edge that I pressed and glued down. I used this method on both sides all the way around until the fabric was fully attached.

Step 9: Extra Bag Details

As a final touch (and completely optional step), I added some small details to the bag.

I added a strap made of decorative lace, which I glued in place with some hot glue along the sides of the bag. Along with this, I added a strap of lace on the bottom to define the edge of the purple fabric, and laid some tiny strips of lace along the edges of the purple to hide some of my messier edges and make it overall look more finished.

Step 10: Your Bag Is Done!!!

With that, your bag is completed! Now you've got a fashionable, fun space bag to carry all of your most important belongings in! How fantastic!!

Introduction: Easy Galaxy Space Bead Embroidered Bag