Fairy Tales in Stitches Week: Nora Corbett

As winter rapidly approaches and I find myself spending more time idly in front of the tv or in groups for conversation instead of summery activities, I feel a strong need to do something with my hands. My days are spent too long with the computer and words, my passion, but it is wonderful to escape temporarily into other worlds, recent favorites including The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and Lark Rise to Candleford among others. (And, hey, I adore So You Think You Can Dance, too, but I can only watch it with nothing in my hands to distract me.) I like having handwork, too, to add to the distraction. My brain wanders too easily.


Anyway, every few years, I get the urge to work on a sewing project of some kind, probably since I never learned to knit. There's something soothing about the small acts of creation with no demands or expectations, just doing for the sake of doing, especially if something vibrant and lovely comes from the process. It's been five years since my last project and none of my stored patterns match my whimsy at the moment, so I've gone hunting for something new. My searches have included fairy tales, of course. So this week I will share some of my discoveries and hopefully choose my own project to commit to in the coming evening hours when my brain is too tired for anything else.

One of my longtime favorite designers is Nora Corbett of Mirabilia Designs. I have sewn one of her projects in the past, Garden Verses, which hangs in my bedroom so it is one of the first things I see each day and the last at night. The light is too gloomy right now or I would take a picture of her to share. This one is the model image from Mirabilia.

 
I love the romantic bent to her work, of course. She loves fairies and mermaids as well as Pre-Raphaelite inspired figures. She has also designed the most directly with fairy tales in mind with her Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.

I like both but admit a preference to her Dreamer pictured below as an alternative Sleeping Beauty. It is in high contention for my winter project. It reminds me very much of Flaming June by Lord Frederic Leighton, but in color more suited to my home, although I change colors on almost every project. Garden Verses is one of the few I have ever followed exactly, excepting my choice for the base fabric.

I'm also partial to these two since they also answer my love for the night skies.

 


I've sewn Damask Roses (see below) before as a gift for my mother, sans the trees and bottom border, and completely changing the colors--her dress in royal blue and white with the woman holding yellow roses, all three being my mother's favorite colors. It hangs in her bedroom, too.

Finally, here's The Winter Queen who makes a fine Snow Queen in my mind. I own this pattern already and have debated making this, but I don't have anywhere that she suits at this point. There are four queens in this series, but each stand well on their own.


So far I'm debating between The Dreamer and the moon and star ones above--which are smaller and won't take as long--but there's more on my list that I will share during this week which I've dubbed Fairy Tales in Stitches Week. There'll be more this week than cross stitch, though, if this doesn't interest you. I have a pile of books begging to be written about and then shelved, for one thing.

Most of the patterns--and most of the images--I've shown this week are available through 123stitch.com. I am in no way affiliated with them or any of the designers I've discussed. However, I have ordered from 123 Stitch and am a satisfied customer.