Mr. Marley pattern is now available!

At last! Mr. Marley, the second pattern in my Ebenezer Ornament Series, is now in the shop. This series is inspired by my love for Charles Dickens' spooky Victorian novella, A Christmas Carol. This pattern series is intermediate – not for beginners. If you've completed my Twelve Days Ornament Series, you are ready to step into Ebenezer! (Twelve Days is a great primer as it builds your skills when you do the patterns in order.)

Skills needed are backstitch, whipstitch, drawing on the face, precision cutting of small pieces (and some are like super small), beading, and working with jump rings and basic jewelry tools. No worries, as with all my ornament patterns, Mr. Marley is organized into detailed step by step instructions with lots of diagrams and tips.

The ghostly Mr. Marley ornament is sporting his 'usual' pigtail, waistcoat, tights, and tasseled boots. His spectacles in death are just as they were in life, pushed up on his forehead, and he wears a folded kerchief bound around his head and chin. He holds the long chain which he forged in life, complete with money jingle boxes, padlock, key, and money purse.

I love the look of metallic stitching with this series, and I've discovered a DMC thread that is a lot easier to work with than the DMC Light Effects: DMC Diamant is a twisted single strand metallic embroidery thread. I love it! A good bit easier to work with than the six strand Light Effects for the decorative embroidery! (You will still need Light Effects to make the little tassels if you want those in metallic finish.) 

Note: if you use Diamant for the embroidery, ignore the number of strands I have specified for that step and just use a double strand of Diamant, or a single strand of Diamant Grande.

I will have to just do a blog post on all the different types of DMC metallic floss. I seem to use them all in this one series! LOL Of course. All the things. 

Just like my other heirloom ornament patterns, it takes about two crafternoons to make a Mr. Marley. He doesn't have as much embroidery as some others, but he's a bit more complicated because of the handmade charms and spectacles. (You can always opt to purchase similar sized charms if you like!)

He's constructed using Sulky Stick 'n Stitch, which makes the process so fast and accurate. If you already have the materials on hand to make Scrooge, you just need a few more things like chain, jump rings, jingle bells, metallic card stock, metallic wool felt, and wire. I posted about that recently.

A shot of the fellas together. My Mr. Marley samples are made with the same two Benzie color palettes I used for my Mr. Scrooge samples. Here are the detailed color guides for Marley, and you can find the kits that go with them at amaaaaaazing Benzie Design!