How it works

Every project moves through the same four steps, whichever craft it is.

  • 1

    Design

    Draw on a chart that matches the craft: offset columns for peyote, offset rows for brick stitch and kumihimo, a half-bead spiral for bead crochet.

  • 2

    Preview

    The finished piece flat, in 3D, or wrapped around a wrist, at its real size.

  • 3

    Supplies

    Bead counts and grams against real shop codes, Hama numbers and Perler colour names for fuse beads, pegboard counts, thread and cord lengths, end caps, and a tools checklist.

  • 4

    Make

    One row at a time with pick-up counts, direction, and the row highlighted on the chart.

Covers Loom Peyote Brick stitch Square stitch Herringbone Right-angle weave Bezels Kumihimo Bead crochet Bead cross-stitch Fuse beads — Perler and Hama
In the app

What it looks like in use.

The chart matches the craftPeyote on offset columns, brick stitch on offset rows, a half-bead spiral for bead crochet. Get that wrong and the pattern is useless for the thing it claims to cover.
The chart matches the craft
A list you can order fromPut several projects on the Shopping tab and the beads they share are added up into one list, each colour with its shop code and the grams to buy, ticked off as you go. Cord lengths, thread and end cap sizes come with it.
One shopping list for every project
Worked row by rowThe current row stays highlighted on the chart while you work it, so you can look up and find your place again.
Worked row by row
Kumihimo gets its own diagramBobbin loading, then a disk diagram for every move, because a kumihimo chart alone doesn't tell you what to pick up.
Kumihimo gets its own diagram
Detail

The parts that took the longest.

  • PrintingCharts print at true bead size or double, on Letter or A4, with row numbers, a colour key with counts, and 1 in and 5 cm check bars. Long charts continue across pages, and a fuse-bead chart prints one pegboard to a page at true size. A Pro feature, free for the first three jobs.
  • Free, with ProThe app is free and projects stay on the device, with no accounts, ads or analytics. Pro is a one-time $7.99 purchase rather than a subscription, $4.99 for the first sixty days after launch. It unlocks printing, hands-free mode, photo to pattern from your own pictures, the text tool and mirror drawing, and drops the “Made with Bead Bench” line from anything shared. Each works three times free first — twice for your own photos — so you can try it on a real project before paying.
  • Two levelsBeginner keeps the tools simple, with a first-time tour and a Learn page for every craft. Advanced adds selection, lines, boxes, mirror drawing, text, bead sizes and pattern files.
  • Buying the beadsPut several projects on the Shopping tab and the same beads are added up into one list, ticked off as you buy them. Every colour carries its shop code, and the bead browser shows every colour by theme or by what goes with one, with loose beads added to a basket.
  • 288 example patternsFrom simple stripes to detailed designs, free, with at least ten for every craft. Open one and change it rather than starting from an empty grid.
  • Hands-freeOne instruction at a time in large type, read aloud, with the screen kept on. Also Pro, and also free for the first three.
  • Sourced claimsEvery statement the app makes about a craft is recorded with its source, because the fastest way to lose a maker is to tell them something untrue about their own craft.
Previewed around a wrist.
Previewed around a wrist.
Hands-free mode, read aloud.
Hands-free mode, read aloud.
One project's Supplies tab, ticked off as you buy.
One project’s beads, at exact count or with 10% or 20% spare, ticked off as you buy them.
Browsing bead colours, drawn true to shape.
Every bead colour, drawn as its own shape, with its shop code.
Starting a project in any of eleven crafts.
Starting a project in any of the eleven crafts, or from a photo.

Where it stands. 1.0.7 is built, signed and in closed testing on Google Play as com.jdcap.beads, ahead of a public release. Privacy policy.