How to Repair And Restore Your Beading

While beading, or after a beaded piece has endured a lot of wear, beaders typically run into one of two problems: broken threads or broken beads.

Repairing Broken Thread

The method used for repairing broken thread depends on whether the thread has no knots, is knotted, or is woven.

Repairing Thread with No Knots

1. Thread a needle with ample thread.
2. Carefully restring all beads and reattach the findings.

Repairing Thread Knotted Between Beads

1. Thread a needle with enough thread. Tie a knot.
2. Restring from before the last standing knot, so that the new string takes over for the last section before the break.

Repairing Woven Thread

If the thread breaks in a woven beaded project, the project won’t immediately fall apart. Instead, you’ll likely lose a bead where the thread broke and have two broken parts on either side of the broken thread. To repair this:

1. Thread a needle with about 1 foot of thread. Insert the needle into a bead on one side of the break, not too far from the location of the break.
2. Weave the new thread through a few beads. One or two beads before the location of the break, tie a knot with the new thread around the old thread. Hide the knot by pushing it against, or even into, the bead.
   
3. Continue weaving the new thread through beads until you bridge the gap created by the broken thread.
4. Knot the new thread around the old thread just after the last bead before the break. Add the bead that was lost when the thread broke. Create another knot and push this knot against the “new” bead to secure it.
5. Weave the needle and thread into the second broken segment, then knot off the new thread and hide the knot inside a bead.
   

Repairing Broken Beads

Sometimes a bead’s hole will be too small or not properly centered, and the pressure you apply while handling it will cause the bead to break. One repair option is simply to remove all beads from the broken bead onward, replace the broken bead, and then restring the beads. But if the broken bead is in the middle of the project, you won’t want to undo all of your work. Instead, you can add a single new bead:

1. Follow steps 1–2 above for fixing broken thread.
2. Add the replacement bead, knotting between beads if the project calls for it.
3. Follow step 4 of Repairing Woven Thread, weaving the new needle and thread through several other beads in the project and then knotting it off.