Continuous Cross Over

French beaded flowers technique: Continuous Cross-Over Loops

Level: Beginner

The Continuous Cross-over loops French beading technique is usually used for making petals all on one continuous wire.

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Practice petals – 11/0 seed beads/24 gauge wire
Pattern: Seven 20-bead CCL

Prepare: String approx. 30 inches (76.2 cm) beads onto a spool of 24-gauge wire.

  1. Leave a 3-inch (7.6 cm) tail. Make a 20-bead loop. Pinch the loop so that it’s a long oval.
  2. Move the working-wire so that it is up in between the loop. Photo 1.

    French beaded flower techniques - Continuous Cross-over loops

    Photo 1

  3. Feed enough beads so that it covers the wire and then bend the bare wire over the top of the loop and go down the backside. Photo 2.

    French beaded flower techniques - Continuous Cross-over loops

    Photo 2

  4. Feed and push (Photo 3) more beads up the wire until it covers the wire. There will be a small amount of wire peeking through at the top and that’s okay. Tip: Using the same color wire as your beads will make the wire less noticeable.

    French beaded flower techniques - Continuous Cross-over loops

    Photo 3

  5. Wrap the bare wire around the base twice to secure. Photo 4.
    French beaded flower techniques - Continuous Cross-over loops

    Photo 4

    You now have one (1) cross-over loop (CCL).

  6. Start another loop next to the first petal leaving about 1/8 inch (.31 cm) of space in between. Photo 5.

    French beaded flower techniques - Continuous Cross-over loops

    Photo 5

  7.  When finishing the wrap for the subsequent cross-over loops, make the wrap on the bare wire in between the petals. Continue making the cross-over loops until you’ve reached your desired number of petals.
  8. 8. Re-positioning Tail Wires: Take one of the tail wires and wrap it around the base of a petal across it. Photo 6.
    French beaded flower techniques - Continuous Cross-over loops

    Photo 6

    See final Practice Petals in Photo 7 with the front view and side view.

    French beaded flower techniques - Continuous Cross-over loops

    Photo 7