Redneck Bead Mat

Square plastic lid

When I first picked up beading with seed beads, I didn't know how much you needed to complete projects. One of the first things I noticed was that i needed something to keep my beads from rolling away. I hadn't done much reasearch online yet so I had no clue that there were actually mats out there to buy. So I had the lid to a square plastic container and I used it to keep the beads from rolling everywhere. Only problem with this was that the beads keep hopping off of it. So I figured I would get some felt. That worked for a bit but it soon began to fray, making it hard to get the beads on the needle.

I looked around the craft store and found some Vellux. Its really cheep and works great. But I have grandkids and with out some stability it was hard to keep the beads on the mat when I wanted to move from the desk to the chair or when I was not working with them. This is when I started to do more research on different Mats. I looked in the craft stores and online and OMG those kind are expensive. I didn't have $20 or more to invest in one.

So as I am looking around my shop and see the plastic lid I started with.I cut the piece of Vellux that I had ( a gamble for me cuz I couldn't get more right away) and fit it to the lid. I later added some tape on the top of the lid to keep the fabric from moving. I left one corner uncut so it would be easy to pull the fabric up to clean, change or find lost beads.