Carolyn pearce Strawberry Fayre heart etui 3: some more goodies have arrived!

I’m gradually getting all the materials together to start this gorgeous Strawberry Fayre heart etui project, by Carolyn Pearce. The design appears in Inspirations magazine number 95.

In my last blog post, I talked about how most of the materials were substituted from my stash, to keep the cost down for this project, although there is a materials pack available from Inspirations, if you prefer to go that route (but it’s a bit on the pricey side!).

Here are the latest bits and pieces that have arrived over the past few days:

I ordered some lovely metallic thread, a ball of DMC perle 8 (shade 469) in a mossy green, and some Mill Hill beads (42012 Royal Plum), from Sew and So. The metallic thread is wonderful – really fine, with a copper and black twist – very similar to the Au Ver a Soie 223 Black copper antique metallic thread that Carolyn suggests in her list, but I couldn’t get that. This substitute is supposed to be for machine embroidery, so is fine, but very strong, and I’m really looking forward to using it. It’s Madeira Metallic 20, shade 428 Copper. It was rather expensive at £7.52 plus VAT, but it’s a beautiful shade.

I managed to find this lovely grassy green grosgrain 6mm ribbon on the Beautiful Ribbon website – it took me ages online to find a green that wasn’t really bright, but this one is a lovely shade, and it’s a soft ribbon to hold, too. I bought two metres, which should be plenty.

I ordered these beads shown below from Spellbound Beads of Lichfield. From the top left, they are:

DB 0243 Miyuki Delica Lined crystal/medium blue lustre delica size 11 ( ‘X’ on the materials list – exact match).

0353 Cobalt lined Sapphire AB size 15 (this was a substitute by the shop, as what I ordered wasn’t available, so it’s really similar to the colour of the beads in the next packet, and I’m not sure if the colour difference is too close to work). This is for ‘Z’ on the list.

SB0063 Lined blue violet AB delica size 11. ‘W’ on the materials list – exact match.

1606 Dyed semi-frost transparent rose, size 15. A substitute for ‘Y’ on the materials list.

HEX 589 Silver lined teal size 11 hex  beads. Substitute for ‘U’ on the list.

The ones substituted are because it has proved to be impossible to get Matsuno beads in the UK in the shades I need, but I think these beads will work really well instead.

In case you were wondering what the ‘rather pricey’ materials pack that Inspirations magazine sell looks like, Jo from Australia sent me some pictures of the pack that she bought! It’s really interesting to see. She’s even got one of the elusive mother of pearl rulers in her pack (although they are supplying them for a slightly cheaper price without the ruler, as the rulers are unavailable worldwide, now). It’s interesting to see the bits and pieces all together. The copper metallic thread at the bottom is very similar in colour to the one I have just bought, which is good!

Here’s the ‘fabrics’ part of the pack that Jo bought. Lots of different fabrics, wadding, acetate, etc., all cut to the sizes listed on the pull-out sheet.

So, I’m getting closer to being ready to start this project, now. But I still need to get the cotton/linen blend fabric, and a long thin thread winder for one of the pockets. I hope that doesn’t end up being as difficult as the ruler, which is still proving impossible to get, although I’m on to a couple of leads on that front…..

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