Hello there !
Today I’d like to give a quick overview of how to bezel a cabochon in peyote while doing bead embroidery. Especially, let’s look at the specific example of non round cabs, which are a (tiny) bit more difficult to bezel.
When do you have to bezel a cab in embroidery ? Typically, when the back of it is not absolutely flat, or when the cab is heavy, and there’s a chance it doesn’t stay in place if glued only; or, when the cab has a high profile, which wouldn’t look nice next to a simple row of beads. In other cases, you have the choice of either bezeling it or just surrounding it with a row of beads.
What you’ll need to bezel your cab is the following (you’ll need more supplies if you also want to do the backing of your embroidery piece, see my other lessons): ultra suede, a cab, 11/0 Delica, 15/0 seed beads, Nympo type thread, a robust needle (shouldn’t break or bend when going through the fabric), and some fabric specific glue (like the E-6000). Now, here is how to proceed:
1. Mark the space of your cab on the ultra-suede and glue your piece to the fabric. Next, fix the thread in the back of the cab, by threading a couple of times through the fabric.
2. Embroider a row of 11/0 Delica around the stone, just following the edge. If the cab is rounded underneath (like in this example, where it actually is a pendant, and not a cab), you’ll want to be careful not to do your row under the edge, which would stretch the fabric when the peyote rows will start “pulling” on this first row.
Work your beads 4 by 4: thread 4 beads, go through the fabric, then come back up between bead 2 and 3; go through the last 2 beads again, add 4 beads, etc.
3. You need to be careful when finishing your row: you’ll need to end up with an even number of beads. As you’re working with 4 (=even) beads at a time, either you finish by adding a final 4 beads, or you add 2, but don’t add just 1 or 3, or it would make the overall count uneven. At the end, go through the first 3 beads of the row. Don’t worry if your row doesn’t look very regular, and don’t try to correct it by going through the beads one more time, as peyote will further disturb it anyway 
4. Start the peyote: just as in regular peyote, add one Delica bead, skip one bead from previous row, and go through the next bead. Go the full round, and step up at the end of the row by going again through the first bead of this row. The new beads probably won’t position nicely yet, but that’s OK !
5. Continue your peyote. When you get above a certain point, if your cab is irregular, you’ll need to decrease the number of beads (if it is a round or oval one, just switch to size 15 seed beads). Do the following: when you see that your last row of peyote doesn’t stick to the cab anymore, and when you reach an angle, instead of adding a bead, just thread through 2 beads from the previous row at once (see 2nd picture above). If you have several angles in your cab, like it’s the case in mine, just repeat it in each angle. It doesn’t have to be on the same row, though: in this example, I decreased in my 3rd row of peyote (not counting the embroidered row) for the pointed end of the cab, and in the 4th row for the 2 top angles. On the next row, when you get above the decrease, depending on how pointed the angle is, you can either add one or 2 beads, or even (when it is very pointed !) not add any. Here I added just one (see 3rd picture), so that the new row fits snugly against the stone.
6. Finish your peyote with a row of 15/0 seed beads, to give it a neatly finished look and make sure your cab is well secured. Overall, you can work any number of peyote rows: the more you add, the more the bezel will cover the stone, and the more decreases you’ll need to do. Notice how I had to add 2 15/0 seed beads above the decrease in the top angles. When done with peyote, go through the earlier rows of peyote to thread through the fabric again, and you’re ready to add more embroidered row to your piece !
Make sure to check the other embroidery lessons for more bead embroidery tips !
Talk to you soon !