During the 19th-20th century, Kathi women in Saurashtra, Gujarat used glass beads to create trousseau textiles, generating the unique tradition of beadwork.  As a researcher trained in textile design and belonging to the Kathi community, I use my great-grandmother, Jadiba's beaded bag, inherited as part of my trousseau, as an entry point into her mind, creativity and use of mathematics at the turn of the last century. By exploring her story as well as those of two other women beadwork artists and analysing beadworks, I make a case for folk or vernacular knowledge and creativity embodied in the object.