Bead Crochet Jewelry Book Featuring 27 Spectacular Patterns

This is a book review of Bead Crochet Jewelry: An Inspired Journey Through 27 Designs

All the Details You Need to Know About This Crochet Pattern Book:

Authors: Bert Rachel Freed and Dana Elizabeth Freed

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Copyright Date: 2012

ISBN 13: 978-0312672942

ISBN 10: 0312672942

Book Formats:

This book is available in the following format(s):

Digital download: Kindle e-book edition
Softcover

Number of Pages: 144

Skill Level: This book is intended for people who have some experience with crochet but are beginners to the bead crochet technique.

The Focus of This Book:

This book is intended to teach you how to make jewelry projects using the bead crochet technique. Multiple projects in the book are tubular necklaces.

The Best Things About This Book

The projects included in the book are lovely and appealing.

Although this is not a new book (please note the 2012 copyright date,) the designs included are mostly classic styles that still look attractive for wearing in 2026 and beyond. So far, the book has aged well overall.

This book is extremely accessible and beginner friendly, but it also includes some tips, tricks and projects that will be useful for advanced bead crocheters. If you’re starting with no bead crochet knowledge, this is a book that truly empowers you to build your bead crochet skills from zero; and even if you’ve already made some bead crochet projects before, this one is likely to teach you new insights and help you advance in your bead crochet knowledge.

The book includes a thorough, detailed explanation of the materials the authors recommend for bead crochet.

The projects advance in a logical way from ultra-easy to more advanced.

An index is included, which can be helpful for easily locating the information you need.

Other Observations About This Book

The book’s styling is interesting, creative and compelling, but it is also occasionally a bit puzzling. For example, some of the projects are photographed with toy trucks and cars.

Sometimes the projects are laid flat for the photographs, which I appreciate because this makes it very easy to see the details on each – but sometimes the projects are wrapped around three-dimensional objects like a glass lamp. I would really have preferred seeing them being modeled by a living human so I could get a better idea of how hefty (or not) each piece ends up turning out.

I love bead crochet, but these projects are more work than I personally want to do. Many of these are serious projects using lots of beads and small steel hooks.

Looking at these project photos, I realize how dedicated the authors are to their art form. They’ve invested a massive amount of effort in creating and sharing these designs.

Although I do bead crochet, I don’t do it at all like this – and I feel humbled, not to mention that I feel a little bit like a lazy slacker, in comparison.

As I gaze at these projects, I realize that my style is a lot more fiber intensive; my projects typically feature the fiber as the primary design element, and they are peppered with occasional bead accents.

In contrast, some of these projects feature surfaces made up of mostly beads, with the fiber often being unobtrusive in the design. The beads definitely take center stage. What they’re doing takes a lot of skill, patience and effort. Well, different strokes for different folks, right?

The authors have a strong preference for synthetic cord and discourage readers from using natural fibers.

They make this recommendation because the synthetics are less likely to disintegrate over time.

Although I’ve done a lot of bead crochet with synthetic threads in the past, I currently have a strong preference for working with natural fibers. So on this point, I don’t agree with the authors, although I understand and respect their reasons for making that suggestion.

If you prefer natural fibers, too, you might wish to look around at other similar books before investing in this one, because all these projects are made using synthetics.

I didn’t try substituting organic cotton (my current preferred fiber for bead crochet) in any of these projects to see how they would turn out; and, because I didn’t have the right materials in my stash at the time I borrowed this book from the library, I ended up reading the book, but not actually making any of the projects in it.

Conclusion

Overall, I think Bead Crochet Jewelry is an outstanding book. I’m delighted to recommend this book to other crochet enthusiasts who are interested in creating tubular beaded jewelry projects and other dramatic beaded jewelry pieces using synthetic cord.

Where to Buy This Book:

Thanks for checking out this book review of Bead Crochet Jewelry. I appreciate your interest!

You’re Invited to Stay Awhile, and to Come Back Again Soon!

If you love crochet, and you’re interested in building both your crochet skills and your crochet pattern library, I invite you to become a regular reader of this website. I don’t want you to miss out on seeing the latest crochet project ideas, pattern book reviews, and crochet stitch tutorials I’ll be posting. You can make sure you don’t lose track of this site by signing up for my newsletter and community at Substack.

Basic subscriptions are free; I send out regular newsletters to let my subscribers know about new craft articles and tutorials as they are posted. I also share details about the craft projects I’m working on, and invite my readers to share their projects, too. So there is no need to feel like it’s just you, crafting all alone at home. I’d love to have you join us! You’re invited!!

By Amy Solovay

Please Visit My Ko-Fi Shop HERE to Find My Sample Sale, Destash Sale and Digital PDF Pattern Downloads for Sale.

About Your Book Reviewer:

Amy Solovay is a real, live, human content creator and educator who holds an Associate of Arts degree in Textile Design from FIDM LA (The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Los Angeles) and a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Sweet Briar College. She is NOT a robot and does not use artificial intelligence (AI) to write book reviews or articles for this website.

Amy learned to crochet as a small child, and she still enjoys crocheting all these years later.

As an educator, Amy Solovay used to teach in-person college courses in trend forecasting, marketing and surface design at California Design College in Los Angeles. Nowadays she uses online platforms for sharing her knowledge about textiles, crafts, current color trends and current design trends.

Discover More Bead Crafts:

More Crochet Pattern Books You Might Enjoy

Bead Crochet Jewelry is included on our list of best beadwork pattern books. You can click here to see the entire list.

See Also:

Find More Outstanding Craft Books HERE.

This page was last updated on 12-28-2025. Thanks for visiting!