On Monday afternoon, I put the last few stitches in Jeanette Douglas’ Royalty ABC. It has been a long but enjoyable project. And one which I made lots of changes too. I am absolutely delighted with the finished product. (Click the picture for a slightly larger, but still un-ironed, version.)
It was stitched using the called for fibres (a combination of Rainbow Gallery Splendor, NPI, Soie d’Alger, Bijoux and Gloriana silk), on hand-dyed fabric from Enchanting Lair in the colourway Heritage. (If you haven’t tried her fabric yet, I highly recommend you give it a go. Her colours are fabulous!)
I did make several changes to the design, as I mentioned. The most noticeable, perhaps, is leaving out row 15, which was three over-one crosses. Instead, I moved up row 23, a satin stitch pattern, in order to keep the spacing more or less even.
On row 10, I added some beads to the middle crown:
I also added beads to row 20.
And on row 31, I left out both of the over-one crowns on the side, and the date in the middle of the heart. Instead, I added the crown charm to the heart. (It is included in the floss pack because it is intended for the box, which I am not going to stitch.) I added the date to the final box, with my name.
My other big omission on this design is row 19, which was a series of diamonds made out of Queen stitches. I seriously dislike Queen stitches. I didn’t replace that row with anything, since I think the spacing looked fine.
Overall, I think this is a stunning design, and I am really looking forward to finishing it into a bell pull. I have the finishing kit, which includes the bellpull hardware, and the leaflet has very detailed instructions. Hopefully, I’ll make some time to finish it up in the next few weeks.
It is beautiful! The colors are absolutely wonderful, and I like your changes (especially the beads).
That is so beautiful. I am now thinking that I may even stitch it.
this is really so beautiful xx
Gorgeous! I love your changes, especially the beads. The little crown charm is so sweet.
Congratulations on a stunning finish. I sure understand how some of those specialty stitches can be a pain.