Make your own name sign in beads, download blank bead board templates and a whole booklet of Christmas patterns – free for everyone, and most of it without logging in.
Patterns in the picture: The name sign (make your own with Name in beads) · Elf hat · Christmas bell with ribbon · Penguin with Red Elf Hat
Since Version 4, a handful of new things have arrived on Perleland, and they have one thing in common: they are free for everyone, and most of them don't even need an account. Here's what you can make now.
On Name in beads you type a name, and it appears as beads on the screen right away. The pattern is laid out on whole boards, so you know exactly how many boards you need.
The PDF with boards, colour numbers and bead counts is free without logging in. So is the alphabet sheet: every letter and number in three fonts with the bead count for each character, so you can lay out a name without a screen at all.
Would you rather draw your pattern yourself with a pencil? From the pegboard template page you can download a blank board as a PDF: a 29 × 29 midi board, 2 × 2 and 3 × 3 midi boards, a mini board and a maxi board. Single boards are printed at their natural size, so the sheet matches the board on your table, and a tick mark for every fifth bead makes it easy to find the right peg. Remember to print at 100 %.
On the Christmas patterns page you can now download all the small single-board patterns as one PDF booklet: one page per pattern with the board and the colour list. It's ready to print for an advent calendar or an afternoon with beads, and you don't need to log in. The booklet appears in every category with at least three small patterns, so more will follow as the categories grow.
Under Patterns there are three new collections, so you can choose by the time and the beads you have:
Every pattern card now shows the size, the number of boards and the difficulty, for example 58 × 58 · 4 pegboards · Easy. On the pattern page you'll find the size in centimetres, how many beads and colours you need, and whether it's a quick project, an afternoon or a weekend project. At the bottom there are more patterns of the same size.
The difficulty follows one fixed rule: Easy is one board with no more than 16 colours, Hard is five boards or more or over 60 colours, and everything in between is Medium.
A face is the hardest motif to make in beads. In the Portrait in beads guide you can see what cropping, the number of boards and contrast do to the same photo, with real examples made in the tool. Afterwards you can try your own photo, and turning a picture into a pattern is still free.
Under Free for you on the front page and on your app home you'll find shortcuts to everything new. Looking for Christmas patterns? Start with our guide to Christmas bead boards, and if you want to turn your own picture into a pattern, this guide shows you how in 10 minutes.
No. The name sign PDF, the alphabet sheet, the templates and the Christmas pattern booklet can all be downloaded without logging in. You only need a free account if you want to save a name sign under My patterns or keep editing it in the tool.
No. Everything in this post is free, and so is turning your own picture into a bead pattern.
The patterns and templates are made for midi beads such as Hama midi, Perler, Nabbi and Artkal. Name in beads and the templates are also available for mini and maxi beads.
Have fun – and if you have an idea for what we should build next, add it to the idea board. 🧡