The lure of sew-on beads have been long an attraction for jewelry designers, seamstresses, and all-around adorners alike for generations. The stash of antique sew-on beads found at The Beadin’ Path & www.BeadinPath.com was first unearthed years back in the French garment district & brought to the US in the 1980’s.

Although many of these ‘dead stock’ (otherwise known as store or commercial stock that was never sold or circulated) beads & components were continuously imported from Europe to the US during the Edwardian period on into the late 1940’s.

Originally manufactured in both France & Czechoslovakia in the late 1800’s, sew-ons were used to adorn mourning dresses, blouses, clothing and textiles. They generally feature a flat-back that was not meant to be seen but would lay nicely on garments and fabrics. The front-sides or the surface of the bead that was meant to be seen usually features a design motif or a faceted texture. Many times you’ll find these styles feature more than one traditional hole for ease of mounted to fabrics. For today’s jewelry applications you’ll find original designs that feature beads with 2 or more holes work nicely into multi-stand chokers, long elegant lariats or 2-strand cuff bracelets. They also work into elegant chandelier earrings very popular today.

The ‘sew-on’ style bead is still manufactured today by companies such as Swarovski and others. There is still a very active need for beads that are meant for the textile application. Different from standard buttons that generally have a shank on the back or 2 traditional button holes, you’ll find that today these beads bear some similarities to the antique sew-on beads of yesteryear. Many times they are flat-backed, domed or faceted on the fronts and feature more than one hole for stitching or stringing. Examples of Swarovski’s sew-on beads include Art. 3200’s, 3230’s, & 3270’s to name a few. Also the Swarovski “Margarita” bead, or Art. 3700 makes an elegant sew-on that applies very nicely to either textile adornment or jewelry design.