Reading Patterns for Peyote Stitch: Flat Peyote
Copyright 2003: Susan Mandel
Step 1: Orient yourself.
Determine which is the best way to read the graph - either vertically or
horizontally.
A vertically oriented graph will look like this:
Pattern read vertically
A horizontally oriented graph will look like this:
Pattern read horizontally
As you will learn, whichever way the holes face is the way in which you will read the
graph when doing peyote stitch. Another way of looking at it is that whichever edge is
jagged is the direction that you will read.
Step 2: Counting Rows
Rows are always counted on the diagonal:
How many beads lay underneath the arrow? _____is the number of rows!
Copyright 2003: Susan Mandel, All Rights Reserved Distributed by www.bead-patterns.com
Step 3: Starting the  First Row of Flat Peyote:
The term  First row of peyote stitch is confusing! When you begin a new
project, you must first set up the rows so that the beads will be oriented properly. You
will really be reading rows 1 and 2 together, and then adding row 3 to create your
 First row or  Start of peyote stitch. This is done as follows:
a. You will begin by stringing a row of beads onto your thread. We will call this
the  Base row . This string of beads is actually the first and second rows combined.
The beads are strung in a sequential manner , as you read the first two rows:
read
start
Your  Base Row strand of beads should look like this:
b. Now, to set up the stitch for Peyote. You will begin reading the third row from
the right side heading back to the left and adding these beads onto your strand,
skipping every other bead in your base row (as you normally would for a peyote stitch).
The third row beads are black:
read
third row
(black beads)
c. Your completed  Start of your pattern should look like this:
Note that you have woven the first three rows of the pattern!
Copyright 2003: Susan Mandel, All Rights Reserved Distributed by www.bead-patterns.com
Step 4: Weaving the Pattern: Now that you have created your peyote  Start , you are
ready to weave the rest of the pattern. You will now weave your fourth row of beads.
Begin by reading from the left to the right. You will be adding the orange beads:
fourth row
orange
Your peyote piece should now look like this:
How many beads are under the arrow?_______ rows have been woven!
Step 5: Reading the Pattern as you Weave: Note from the above example that the
third row has all black beads and the fourth row has all orange beads. Imagine that
this is a beautiful pattern of flowers. Each bead in the row will be either colored or
have a symbol which represents the actual bead that you should weave. As you come
to each bead in the row that you are reading, pick up the appropriate bead and add it
to your woven piece. As you weave, a beautiful image will begin to appear!
fifth row
In the above example, the fifth row of beads would be added by reading right to
left. You would add a purple bead, then a green, then a purple, then a green...
The above examples use even count peyote (an even number of beads along the
edge row) as an example. Be sure to create your  start beginning with the bead in the
 up or  indented position (red bead on left). For odd count peyote, add or subtract an
edge row to create an even count piece until you master the odd count technique
(found elswhere on this site). Enjoy!
Copyright 2003: Susan Mandel, All Rights Reserved Distributed by www.bead-patterns.com