Mabel's Silk Alphabet Sampler

[~threadbear~]

It's lovely Mabel. You can see the darkest red easily of course, but I had to look closely to see the difference in the blended shades.

[Pengwenn]

One down . . . a bizillion more to go.

[RosemaryH]

Looking good Mabel, looking forward to the next one.

Rosemary

[Mabel Figworthy]

One down . . . a bizillion more to go.

Well, one more than I thought anyway -- I'd managed to leave Crescent Colours' Belle Soie silk off the list (and it's of my favourites, too)

[Kute Kitty]

Well Mabel as you have said this is never going to be really "finished" is it, there will always be one more silk to add on!

Looking lovely so far, I like the alphabet you've chosen But what will you do if you get another shade of red in the same silk?

[burgundyice]

Looking good already and beautiful lettering too!
I hope the camera will pick up any visible differences in the silks, if not I'm sure you're going to give a full comprehensive description of each one anyway

Louise

[mags]

Great start Mabel

[Mabel Figworthy]

Not sure what your question is precisely, KK -- do you mean will there be other red letters? Yes, several -- I've got Soie de Paris in reddish shades, and Gloriana in a dark variegated red for example. Or will I do a letter for every colour of silk I've got? In that case I'll need a couple of miles of aida band, I think

Louise, not comprehensive perhaps, but I'll try and give a short description and review for each of the silks.

[wendywombat]

How long is Aida band, Mabel??

What a wonderful way of doing a sampler!!

You are clever!

[charmagne_capalad]

It's lovely! Looking forward to seeing more!

[Mabel Figworthy]

When I first got the idea for this sampler, one alphabet was going to be enough. I then added numbers. Then I found I'd have to do the alphabet twice. Then there were just one or two more silks...

So I'm having a slight change of plan. Numbers are out. First I will work my way through this Jugendstil/Art Nouveau alphabet, and then I have two others lined up (after all, I don't want to get bored with this )

It took a bit of looking as they had to be about 30-40 stitches high, and not too wide or I'd run out of aida band! I had a lovely italic alphabet which for that reason I've had to discard . I knew the style I wanted one of them to be in but couldn't find anything, so I charted that one myself (the second alphabet below). The first alphabet is a slightly adapted version (the flower and some of the letters weren't symmetrical enough... ) of an alphabet from a recent World of Cross Stitching which I got as a freebie at the Stitch & Craft Fair.

So when we get to silk no. 27, there will be changes !

[agi]

They are both very pretty, Mabel!

[Slinky]

Very pretty, indeed.

Btw, does it take you long to put these alphabets onto your cross stitch programme?

[~threadbear~]

That's going to look lovely Mabel.

[Mabel Figworthy]

Btw, does it take you long to put these alphabets onto your cross stitch programme?

It depends a bit on what I'm doing -- if I'm basically making a working copy of an existin chart, and just making small changes or adjustments, not too long, though still a few hours perhaps, as every stitch is put in separately (apart from large blocks of colour where you can use floodfill, or if the pattern is symmetrical you can copy and flip or ratate bits). The second alphabet took longer because I started from scratch, and it took a lot of fiddling to get it so I liked it !

[coffee_freak]

they are lovely!

[kazzi29]

im slowly understanding!! its going to be lovely and a privlidge to watch this!!!

[Rose]

Those are going to be great together. Very nice!!!!

[Mabel Figworthy]

Hip Hip Hurray -- the second letter has appeared! B has been worked in Soie d'Alger, and here is the info:

B: Au Ver à Soie Soie d’Alger
stats: spun, seven-stranded, loosely twisted, 627 solid shades
notes: used as the basis for several hand-dyed silks, including Chameleon Threads
review: Soie d'Alger strands are a little thicker than DMC strands, and coverage with two strands was excellent apart from a few stitches in the very darkest shade. Because it is twisted, albeit loosely, there isn't the lustre of a flat silk but it still has a very nice soft sheen. The thread feels quite soft too and doesn't snag or tangle much, even though I tend to cut the threads quite long. A great choice if you want to build up a collection as it comes in hundreds of shades, and it's easy enough to work with to use it on a regular basis (if your budget will allow it).

[meerkat]

What beautiful colours especially the letter B
Mabel, I can see that with each letter and each review it will be difficult not to try out at least one skein of each silk you are using.