As the holidays approach I always like to dye a Christmas Sampler for those of you stitching various Christmas projects. I have chosen classic red and green this year for the simple reason it remains the most popular colour combination. Yes, there are always new trends but red and green is number one.
Every holiday seems to have a classic colour scheme. With Halloween we generally see orange and black. Valentine’s we see reds, whites, pinks. AND Christmas, we see classic red and greens.
When I think of GREENS I think of evergreen trees, holly, ivy and mistletoe. Thinking of RED I think of berries, hearts and apples.
Samplers are a great opportunity to experiment with various threads. AND they make great gifts for gift giving too.
My Christmas Sampler is limited edition so once they are sold they are gone for this year. The sampler consists of six threads. I’ve dyed these slightly differently than usual. The floss is a variation of greens, one of which is used in the palette. The silk perle are reds used in the palette. The other four threads are a blend of green and red. I decided to do this to give variation if you were wanting to stitch an ornament for example. Variations are a good thing!
- Size 5 perle cotton – 10 meters/10.94 yards – green and reds
- Size 8 perle cotton – 10 meters/10.94 yards – green and reds
- Cotton Floss – 5 meters/5.47 yards – blend of greens
- Flat Ribbon – 5 meters/5.47 yards – green and reds
- Silk Perle – 5 meters/5.47 yards – blend of reds
- Rayon Metallic – 5 meters/5.47 yards – green and reds
Let me tell you a little about each of the threads.
Most of you will be familiar with perle cotton but if not it is a twisted mercerized cotton. Cotton floss is 6 strand floss used as either single or multiple strands depending on the appearance one wishes to achieve. It is versatile for not only cross stitching but needlepoint, wool applique and crazy quilting.
Silk perle is my personal favourite. It is a twisted filament silk and glides through fabric.
Flat ribbon is a viscose knitted product which is not as widely seen in the needlework market. It can be used in place of any “flat” ribbon such as Neon Rays for example. Just a note that it is thicker than other flat ribbons so not a good option for layered stitches such as Rhodes or Waffle.
Rayon metallic not only absorbs the dye beautifully, it is lovely to stitch with.
My Christmas sampler is available in the shop now. Please shop early to avoid disappointment.
