Woodland Enchantress

[Becca]

Woodland Enchantress - Dimensions Gold Collection - Review






This kit comes with everything you need to make the piece, including the beads, metallic thread, a beading needle and of course the normal threads, fabric and needle. The pattern itself is fairly small, but the symbols are coloured so it is easier to read. The threads come with a thread sorter, and are already divided into four bundles so they are very easy to sort into the correct colours and load onto the thread sorter if that’s what you want to do with them. The cardboard thread sorter did last quite well, but some of the holes broke over time and the gold metallic thread was hopeless to try and keep on it.


The fabric is dove grey, 16 count aida, and is cut to the right size for the piece. However it doesn’t leave much space around the edges, only a couple of inches on each side, which may make it a little more difficult to frame. It didn’t fray too badly though, and i didn’t find i had to do anything to stop it fraying.
The instructions that come with the kit are fairly clear and tell you how to do all the different stitches needed. The only real problem is that the list showing the thread colours and symbols is on the side of the chart, so it does make it a bit awkward when stitching when you are doing the part furthest away as you have to keep turning to the list.


The design uses full cross stitches for the enchantress herself, and half cross stitches for the background. This gives quite a good effect, and does make the background quicker to stitch, although the half cross stitches use between three and five strands, so they can get a bit annoying. The colours themselves are beautiful, and very varied, so you shouldn’t get too bored. The major problem i had with this kit was that i ran out of the blue purple thread with quite a few stitches still to do. I am quite a careful stitcher so i think Dimensions really need to supply more thread with the kit. I also almost ran out of brown, i only had a couple of inches spare when i finished all the stitches.


A large part of this design is the extra touches that are done after the full and half cross stitches are complete. There is a lot of backstitching, in various different colours, which does get very time consuming as it is not simply outlining the edge of shapes. The gold metallic threads are supposed to be done with a technique called couching, but this seemed a lot more difficult and time consuming so i decided to do these sections with normal backstitch.
There are also a lot of french knots, but i quite enjoyed doing these, and they didn’t take too long. The beads were very easy to sew on, and definitely improve the effect of the finished piece. The cording was a little tricky to get in the right place, but not too bad.


Overall i would recommend this kit if you want a design which has something a bit different, and enjoy all those finishing details which make this piece really stand out. However this kit is not one for a beginner, as some of the techniques used are a little difficult, and you do have to be very careful about how much thread you use.

[spikesjacket]

I'm wondering if you would miss this piece??????

Absolutely beautiful hun...

[coffee_freak]

so lovely! i saw this kit in a shop and was soooo tempted!

[whalestitcher]

Wow, words escape me....

[XstitchLB]

I love this, you do amazing work. I have the kit for this, just have so many other projects in front and so little time for my hobby .

[Joellie]

I love thisone but im sooooooo with you on the metallic threads lol mine has the majority of the woman in the middle with gold on her lol i hate it!

[alison52]

Have just ordered woodland enchantress, fingers crossed i`ve not bitten of more than i can chew, will keep you posted how i get on.

[Sarah Greiner]

It's a beautiful pattern and you stitched it well. (Also a very good review too!) But I believe I shall live vicariously through your pics . . . lol I have too many to stitch as it is.

[Becca]

Hi Alison, i hope you enjoy doing your Woodland Enchantress, it's definitely worth it.

[tracy]

Alison, I've been working on it for a while now, but you and I can be Enchantress stitching buddies