OhSewCrafty Blog

• Pattern: by Joan Elliott, via Cross Stitch Gold magazine October 2012
• Materials: 32 count “Heather” Belfast linen by Picture this Plus, DMC, Kreinik, Mill Hill as charted
• Size: 13″ x 10″
• Time to stitch: 36 days over 6 months

Presenting Rapunzel and I could not love her more!  

The pattern is great, highly detailed, but not too many colors.  Lots of backstitch, especially on the curtain for the fold lines and fleur de lis patterns.   She’s incredibly sparkly with all the Kreinik and beads, about 400 of the latter.  I love the mood of this piece, she’s so beautiful, her loneliness and longing is almost palpable, and her gorgeous dress befits a princess.  The fact that it incorporates my favorite colors (greens, blue, purple) helped.  It definitely took a while to stitch, with over 21k stitches, but she’s worth it.  The pattern is charted with some fractional stitches, especially around her skin, and I charted a lot of my own backstitch for smooth curves and sharp points, because I don’t like the stair-step method for this sort of chart.  I think the stair-step diminishes the smooth flow of fabric and crisp edges. 

As for the materials, I had the hardest time finding a fabric for this chart.  It calls for a neutral/yellowish fabric from a UK designer which was ok, but I don’t live in the UK and yellow is not my favorite color.  I did wind up ordering a few fabrics online that I didn’t like for her once I saw them in person.  I wanted something that could conceivably be both castle walls and sky (the negative space in this pattern).  I think this grayish purple with a hint of yellow (PTP Heather) is perfect for her.  Rapunzel pops and the stonework blends a little, which is fine.  The darker background also gives it a little pathos, which I feel is entirely appropriate for the rather dark fairy tale, to which the movie Tangled bears little resemblance.   Besides the fabric, it calls for 3 colors of Kreinik and 3 colors of beads.  The cat’s eye (gold) Kreinik is used to add texture to her braid, and extensively on the curtain for the fleur de lis motifs was well as outlining the folds of fabric.  The light green is used for leaves that adorn the cloth of the windowsill and the base of her skirt.  The leaves are heavily beaded which I think is really effective in creating the floral patterns.  The dark grey Kreinik is used for the window, and I didn’t notice until I was in the beading phase how extensively the window is beaded, with a bead in each of the larger panes.  

My favorite aspects of this pattern are her gorgeous braid, and beautiful dress.  I like her crown of beads.  I also love the curtain, its transparence, and how you can almost feel the wind blowing into the tower.  I like how she’s looking out at the tree tops, gives it a nice sense of height.  The bluebird with its nest is really cute, too.  At least she’s not completely alone.  

This is my first of the Joan Elliott fairy tale designs, but certainly not the last.  I think Cinderella might be next, but probably not for a while since I have 24 wips and I need to get that number down a little.