the black swan color guide

Hey, I've had some requests about the black/grey Swan a-Swimming sample I made so I thought I'd put this color guide together for you. This one actually combines felts from Benzie Design and Felt On The Fly.

Benzie Design wool felt colors:

Body and flower center: Black
Wings: Graphite
Neck band: Moss

Felt On the Fly wool felt colors:

Beak and inner flower petals: Shrimp
Outer flower petals: Orange Red
Water: Sea Green

DMC contrast decorative floss colors:

DMC white
DMC 606 orange red
DMC 943 teal
DMC 3851 lighter teal (neck band)
DMC 581 olive green (on the wing)
DMC 580 olive green (on the body)

And of course you'll also need matching thread or floss to sew the felt parts together.
Have fun sewing!

curated felt color collection/felt & floss guides for Swan a-Swimming

See below for the official color guides to make these ornaments!

(Are you looking for a color guide to the black swan? Click here.)

Palette photos courtesy of Benzie Design

Time for the official color guide for the Swan a-Swimming sample ornaments! If you are new to my Twelve Days ornament series you may not know that Benzie Design offers lovely bundles of felt and floss that coordinate perfectly with my Twelve Days ornament samples! On this palette I did sub in one new color for a color that was unused before. I took Carmine out and put in Peacock! Isn't it a pretty palette?

Benzie felt colors in the felt bundle:
1) Swan
2) Moss
3) Fern
4) Mustard
5) Ochre
6) Orange
7) Cotton Candy
8) Magenta
9) Burgundy
10) Peacock

You can add matching floss to your bundle when you purchase via the drop down menu, which comes in very handy to sew the ornaments together and will save you some time and squinting. (Or am I the only one who squints when I'm color matching?)

There are a total of SIX different curated color palettes to choose from at Benzie's Etsy shop. That means that starting with this Swan a-Swimming ornament I'll be repeating the color palettes:

1/7) Partridge & Pear + Swan a-Swimming
2/8) Turtle Dove + Maid a-Milking
3/9) French Hen + Drummer Drumming
4/10) Colly Bird + Piper Piping
5/11) Gold Ring + Lady Dancing
6/12) Goose a-Laying + Lord a-Leaping

BENZIE FELT COLOR AND DMC FLOSS GUIDE FOR THE PINK SWAN A-SWIMMING:

Cotton Candy: Body front and back

Magenta: Wings
Swan: Water, Flower Outer Ring
Orange: Beak
Burgundy: Neck Band, Flower Center
Peacock: Flower Inner Ring

Decorative embroidery floss colors for the pink one:
DMC black (eye)
DMC white (water ripple)
DMC 3609 very light pink
DMC 3845 turquoise
DMC 154 very dark plum
DMC 947 orange
DMC 3804 magenta
DMC 741 school bus orange

(NOTE: You'll also need matching floss colors, available as an add-on to the Benzie felt bundle)

BENZIE FELT COLOR AND DMC FLOSS GUIDE FOR THE YELLOW SWAN A-SWIMMING:

Ochre: Body front and back
Mustard: Wings
Peacock: Water
Moss: Beak, Flower Outer Ring
Swan: Neck Band
Fern: Flower Inner Ring
Orange: Flower Center

Decorative embroidery floss colors for the yellow one:
DMC black (eye)
DMC white
DMC 934 very dark olive
DMC 3845 turquoise
DMC 947 orange
DMC 937 olive

(NOTE: You'll also need matching floss colors, available as an add-on to the Benzie felt bundle)

And there you have it! Check my shop if you'd like to purchase the Swan a-Swimming pattern. A big thank you to Renae at Benzie Design for putting those handy felt and matching floss bundles together!

Swan a-Swimming pattern now available!

On the seventh day of Christmas

My true love gave to meeeee...

Seven swans a-swimming!

Nothing says love like seven swans. All just a-swimming. You don't have to make seven though. One would be nice! And now you can! Because the ornament sewing pattern is available for download in my Etsy shop and also my Craftsy Shop.

These ornaments are much easier to make than they look! It's all because of a magical printable stabilizer called Sulky Printable Stick 'n Stitch (formerly known as Sticky Fabri-Solvy) that adheres directly to the felt. If you can cut with precision and sew basic hand stitches like a whip stitch, running stitch, backstitch and French knots, then you can make this ornament and make it well. There is no embroidery transferring! You stitch right over the marks and cut on the outlines.

You can read more about the whole series and how the Sulky stabilizer works in the Twelve Days section of my blog.

Swan a-Swimming is the seventh in my original series of hand sewn wool felt Christmas ornaments based on the Twelve Days of Christmas song. Stay tuned for more ornament patterns releasing this year.

All the ornament patterns are available in both my shops:
Mmmcrafts on Etsy
or
Mmmcrafts on Craftsy

Swan a-Swimming sneak peek

UPDATE: This pattern is now available!

First look at a completed wool felt Swan a-Swimming ornament, no. 7 in my Twelve Days series. I'm still working on the digital pattern and life is a bit hectic at the moment with Stuff That Is Not Crafting. I have to get through the STINC and then back to the pattern. But am hoping to release it soon! Thanks for being patient!

swan sewing sailing along swimmingly

Hard at work on the Swan a-Swimming pattern for you! For those of you who like to buy the Twelve Days felt and floss bundles from Benzie Design, starting with this pattern (no. seven) I will be repeating the bundle colors. So these samples will be done in the same bundle colors as the the first pattern, Partridge & Pear.

Which leads me to my apology. I kind of dropped the ball for Goose a-Laying with the bundle colors. My samples ended up in a lot of the same colors as Partridge & Pear also because I failed to think that through. Soooo I think I will do a unique bundle for the Goose a-Laying in some different colors in the coming weeks. I'm sorry about that! I had color bundle apathy at the time. Do you ever get that?

Crow softie by Thing 2

You've already seen her softie version of Tom Servo. In the afterglow of that success she informed me she was going to make Crow next. I have to admit I secretly thought she was fighting a losing battle because Crow just seemed really awkward to duplicate as a softie. (For those of you who may be wondering, Crow and Tom Servo are robot characters on a show from the 90s called Mystery Science Theater 3000.)

Well, shut my mouth. She whipped this out from scratch from fleece, felt, and pipe cleaners. I think it's fantastic! So proud.

hand stitched flora card

Card for my momma. It probably looks familiar because it's basically my Flora Needle Book cover pattern that I enlarged to 4 x 4.75 inches. It's made from wool felt and embroidery floss on card stock, with a flower in the place of the button that's usually on the needle book.

Closeup of the stitching. I pre-punched my holes with the needle. You kind of have to do that with paper. I punched them through the felt and paper from the top, then proceeded to embroider with a back stitch like usual. The key is to use BIG stitches.

In progress shot of the other card I made for my MIL. I didn't get a final photo of that one! Too last minute. That one had a few beads and sequins too. The process is pretty time consuming for a card, but it turns your card into a little work of art that is pretty gift on its own.

birthday card for Lita

Simple card made from card stock, wool felt, and gel pen. Happy birthday to my sweet May-born sister!