Start with a 9×9 or 16×16 design using under six colors, on a 29×29 board. Read the grid letter by letter, place beads row by row, and iron both sides. The gallery below lists designs by difficulty with the bead counts you need to buy.
How to Read a Bead Grid
Every pattern in our pattern library is stored as a character grid: each letter is a bead color, each dot is an empty peg. Here is a 9×9 flower, written out the way the generator exports it. P is pink petals, Y is the yellow center.
| — | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | · | · | · | P | · | P | · | · | · |
| 2 | · | · | P | P | · | P | P | · | · |
| 3 | · | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | · |
| 4 | · | · | P | P | Y | P | P | · | · |
| 5 | P | · | P | Y | Y | Y | P | · | P |
| 6 | · | · | P | P | Y | P | P | · | · |
| 7 | · | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | · |
| 8 | · | · | P | P | · | P | P | · | · |
| 9 | · | · | · | P | · | P | · | · | · |
Count the letters before you shop: 40 pink beads, 5 yellow. The four petals and the dot pattern between them are what make it read as a flower rather than a blob — the gaps are part of the design.
The Starter Gallery
These designs ship with the site and are all tested on real boards. Difficulty reflects both bead count and how unforgiving the shape is.
| Design | Size | Difficulty | Colors | Beads (approx) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pixel Heart | 10×9 | Easy | 2 | 45 |
| Rainbow Star | 29×29 | Easy | 5 | 260 |
| Strawberry Cake | 29×29 | Easy | 6 | 320 |
| Corgi Butt | 29×29 | Easy | 5 | 300 |
| Game Boy | 29×29 | Easy | 4 | 380 |
| Pumpkin Lantern | 29×29 | Easy | 5 | 340 |
| Kawaii Cat | 29×29 | Easy | 6 | 330 |
| Mushroom House | 29×29 | Medium | 8 | 420 |
| Retro Spaceship | 29×29 | Medium | 7 | 390 |
| Pikachu | 29×29 | Medium | 7 | 410 |
| Cherry Blossom | 58×58 | Hard | 9 | 1,450 |
| Totoro | 58×58 | Hard | 8 | 1,380 |
Bead counts assume the design fills roughly 35–45% of the board, which is typical for character art with an empty background. If you want the counts per color, open the design on the patterns page — each one shows its palette.
Step-by-Step: Your First Pattern
1. Pick a design at or below your skill level. The heart is 45 beads and takes four minutes. That is a real win, and the first project should be a win.
2. Print or display the grid at a readable size. Phone screens work but invite misreads on rows with alternating colors.
3. Place beads row by row, bottom to top. Working bottom-up means your hand never drags across finished rows.
4. Count as you place. If a row needs six pinks and you have five on the board, stop and fix it now — after ironing, a missing bead is permanent.
5. Iron both sides. One side only leaves the piece fragile and prone to curling, which the curling fix guide covers in detail.
Scaling a Small Design Up
A 9×9 design on a 29×29 board leaves a lot of empty space. Two honest options: pad it with a background color to make a square coaster, or repeat the motif in a 3×3 grid for a pattern tile. Both look intentional; a tiny design floating in the middle of a large board does not.
Pro Tips
- Place a contrasting single bead at each corner of your design before filling — it anchors the shape and catches misalignments early.
- Keep a spare cup of the dominant color within reach; refilling mid-row is what causes color mix-ups.
- Photograph the finished board before ironing. If a bead jumps during ironing, the photo tells you where it belonged.
FAQ
What is the easiest pattern to start with?
A 2-color design under 100 beads, like the pixel heart. It teaches grid reading, bead placement, and ironing with almost no risk of a confusing result.
Can I resize a design to fit my board?
Yes, but scale in whole-number multiples only (2×, 3×). Fractional scaling turns single-pixel details into mush. The pattern sizing guide explains when to scale and when to regenerate from the source image.
Do I need every color in a design before starting?
You need every color you cannot substitute. For a 2-color heart, yes. For a 9-color cherry blossom, you can start with the 5 dominant colors and add highlights later — but buy the greens together, since leaf shades must match within one project.
Where do the bead counts come from?
They are counted from the actual grids in the pattern library, not estimated. Photo conversions produce their own per-color count list after generation in the photo-to-pattern tool.