Peyote stitch for beginners

Peyote stitch is woven by hand with just a needle and thread. The beads sit in a staggered, brick-like pattern, which makes a fabric that’s flexible and very strong. It’s slower than loom work, but there are no warp ends to finish, and you can take it anywhere.

You’ll need beading thread, a beading needle and your beads. See beading supplies for beginners.

How peyote works

In flat peyote, every row adds a bead into every other gap. Each new bead sits half a bead higher than its neighbors, in the space between two beads of the row before. That’s why peyote charts look staggered: the beads you add stick up like teeth (the up beads), and the next row fills the gaps between them.

1. Make your first string (rows 1 and 2)

1. Cut an arm’s length of thread. Add a stop bead: a spare bead you pass through twice, about 6 inches from the end. It stops your beads sliding off and comes off later.
2. Pick up the beads for rows 1 and 2 together. On newer patterns the word chart lists them as Row 1&2, and tells you which corner to start from. On older ones, read the top two rows of the chart as a zigzag, alternating between them.
3. Slide them down to the stop bead.

This string looks like a plain line of beads for now. It turns into two rows once you add row 3.

2. Add row 3

1. Pick up the first bead of row 3.
2. Skip the last bead on your string, and pass the needle through the next one.
3. Pull snug. The new bead pops up next to the one you skipped.
4. Repeat to the end of the row: pick up one bead, skip one, go through the next.

The first few rows are floppy and hard to hold. That’s normal. By row 6 or so the work firms up and gets much easier to handle. Many beaders hold the first rows flat between thumb and finger, or put a strip of tape on the back.

3. Turn and keep going

At the end of each row, turn around and work back the other way. Pick up the first bead of the new row, then go through the last up bead you added. Keep going: each new bead goes into a gap between two up beads, row after row.

If the pattern has an odd number of beads across, one edge of every other row has no up bead to go through. A simple fix: pass your needle under the thread loop between the edge beads of the two rows below, then back through the bead you just added. You’re then in place to start the next row.

Following a peyote chart

• Read the word chart. It lists each row’s beads in the order you pick them up, and the arrow shows the direction. It’s usually easier than counting the staggered squares.
• Count up beads, not rows, when checking your place. Each pass adds a row along one edge only, so counting the zigzag edge is a quick check.
• Mark every row as you finish it.

Next steps

When you’ve finished, see finishing a beaded bracelet. Ready to go faster? Try 2-drop peyote. Browse our peyote patterns.

Last updated October 27, 2026.