Color Guide: Partridge & Pear
These felt colors are from the Benzie Design Twelve Days Bundle 1:
Partridge & Pear is the first pattern in my Twelve Days series. Below are the detailed felt/floss/sequin/bead color guides for you, so that you can easily make ornaments that look like my samples pictured above.
Benzie Design has long been one of my favorite places to purchase wool-blend felts (and they also have 100% wools). They have stellar customer service, quick shipping, and their felt, floss, sequins and beads are an absolute joy to work with! Their friendly staff will be very happy to help you find what you need, including a good many of the tools and other notions you’ll need for this series.
First, some handy links to get you started:
To buy the Partridge & Pear pattern: mmmcrafts.etsy.com
To buy the Twelve Days palette featured below:
Benzie Twelve Days felt palettes
Check the end of the pattern if you are looking for local sources of supplies. Outside the US? Benzie gladly ships internationally, but if the shipping cost is a consideration, check here for ideas.
COLOR GUIDES:
Yellow/Blue/Green Partridge & Pear:
THE FRONT SIDE:
Ochre: Bird body and pear background
Mustard: Bird wing
Swan: Bird belly and plume
Moss: Bird beak, pear stem and pear inset
Fern: Bird beard and pear leaf
ON THE BACK SIDE:
On both ornaments I used Mustard for the backs (but sewed them together with floss that matches Ochre)
Yellow Partridge & Pear decorative* embroidery colors:
DMC Blanc (white) or B5200 (snow white)
DMC 310 (black)
DMC 3844 (dk bright turquoise) partridge breast only
DMC 935 (dk avocado green)
DMC 891 (dk carnation)
DMC 3846 (lt bright turquoise)
*You will also need matching DMC floss colors to sew the ornament pieces together. Benzie offers a bundle of matching flosses.
Pink/Blue Partridge & Pear:
ON THE FRONT SIDE:
Cotton Candy: Bird body and pear background
Magenta: Bird wing and pear stem
Swan: Bird belly, plume and pear leaf
Orange: Bird beard
Burgundy: Bird beak and pear inset
ON THE BACK SIDE:
On both ornaments I used Orange for the backs, but used floss that matched the fronts when I sewed the front and back together.
Pink Partridge & Pear decorative* embroidery colors:
DMC 310 (black)
DMC 3846 (lt bright turquoise)
DMC 947 (burnt orange)
DMC 917 (md plum)
DMC 741 (md tangerine)
DMC 154 (v dk grape)
DMC 818 (baby pink)
*You will also need matching DMC floss colors to sew the ornament pieces together. Benzie offers a bundle of matching flosses.
I hope this color guide was helpful! Happy sewing!
Awww, thanks for the kind words Larissa! Can't wait to see what you make next!!
Your ornaments are sooo beautiful, and you make it so easy to decide on the felts and floss! Now if only I knew that I'd actually get around to making them if I purchased everything (I know myself too well!). I think I may have to wait till the mood (and opportune time) hits. But I'm definitely tempted!!
And thanks for your beautiful felt and great customer service, Renae!
Awww, thanks Grandma G. It is pretty handy to have all the colors collected for ya. They are fun to make!
Just ordered mine. Can't wait to make!
were you asking a while back for ideas on how to store felt? i've always wanted a way to have all the colors spread out for staring at, like oil paint on a palette. this might be a way.
http://stylebyemilyhenderson.com/blog/diy-towel-ladder-in-redbook/
Hey, Jeannette, that's a great suggestion, however I have found the perfect solution for my felt storage. It's a shoe cubby and I looooooove it. The DIY rack might be nice for larger pieces, but my collection is a ton of small pieces so the shoe rack works really well. You can see it here: http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/2009/04/and-heres-follow-through.html
Thanks so much for sharing the suggestion!
So approximately how many ornaments can I expect to make from this bundle? (Assuming I use a few different color combos)
Hi, Amy, I can't really answer that with any accuracy because I've never counted or tried to get as many as I can from one bundle. If I had to hazard a guess and assume you would switch color combos, I'd say at least six and maybe as many as 10 or 12.
Hi…..I've just purchased your pattern for the Swan a-Swimming and really like the black swan color combination. Is there another felt bundle that has all those colors? Thank You
Hi, CrazyforCrafts, here's the post for that:
http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-black-swan-color-guide.html
Do you have (or have you considered) a more detailed color guide on the exact pattern pieces? I love the colors you've used and I've bought the bundles & the extra floss colors, but I'm still struggling to match them by eye to your pictures. Thanks!
Which colors are you having trouble with, Alicia? Glad to help.
Hi, Larissa! I just ordered the first six ornaments and am pre-shrinking my Benzie felt for the Partridge! I bought the bundle, and I'm doing the Yellow version, but I have a question about the blues…did you use the Swan or the Peacock? I'm thinking Swan, but then the pink version looks like it's using the Swan, too, so I'm not sure where that Peacock is used. Thank you for any help!
Hi, geeky Heather! 🙂 Peacock is not used on the Partidge & Pear samples. Peacock is used on the Swan samples, which also shares this color bundle! That was a great question. Sorry for the confusion, and thanks so much for your purchase! I hope you enjoy the patterns.
Aha! I forgot it was a dual bundle. Makes perfect sense, thank you so much!
Mainly the running stitches on the breast and wing of the yellow partridge. Hard to tell if they are the same or different. Likewise the running stitch and French knots in the yellow pear. I'm assuming they are all dark carnation since I don't see any other reddish colors in your list there. Lastly, the contrasting stitch in the yellow partridge plume. Excited to be getting started. Love how easy it is to stitch along the pattern pieces!
Hi, Alicia, all the red looking color is the dark carnation on the yellow partridge and the yellow pear. Plume has dark avacado green backstitch and a white French knot. I am so glad you are enjoying the stabilizer! It's magic.
So I have my patterns, have ordered my felt/floss from Benziedesigns and am now eagerly waiting for it to arrive in the UK. I have hunted in the UK for comparable colour shades and failed so far so I can't wait to receive my package. I'll be buying the contrast colour DMC here as I go (albeit at pretty much twice the price of that coming from Benzie. What a team you are! I'm so excited…thank you so much x
Hi, Diane! Sounds like you have some fun sewing ahead of you! I'm so glad Benzie's bundles have come in handy for you. It's a great partnership. I didn't know DMC floss was so expensive in the UK! They used to be 25 cents a skein here years ago but now they are around 40 cents usually.
Hi Diane. I purchased the first six patterns and now want to order the felt and floss on Benzie. Is there anywhere that lists the colors for each bundle? The image on their site does not change when you choose the different bundles and does not show some of the colors. Do those colors have to be ordered separately from the bundles or are they are just not shown on the image? Does the first bundle cover all the colors needed for the first two patterns? I'm not sure how it all works. Thanks for your help?
Hi, jclore, The first bundle covers all the colors needed for pattern one and seven. Benzie does list the felt colors in the bundles on her listing, you just have to scroll through the text at the bottom to find it. I think I also list the felt colors in all my Benzie bundle posts, which can be found toward the bottom of this resource page: http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/p/twelve-days.html
All the colors in my Benzie samples are included in her bundles. I have made some samples that are not 'Benzie' samples and I can help with colors on those if you'll tell me which one you are looking at. Hope this helps!
Hi Larissa, my Benzie bundle finally arrived safely to Northern Ireland and I'm LOVING the stabiliser. My mother is never going to believe that I've actually managed the embroidery ornaments I've been rabbiting on about for weeks!
I'm struggling to work out which colour goes on the pear front and back. On your post, you say "pear background" – is this the same ochre shade of yellow for both front and back please?
Abby 🙂
Hey across the big water, Abby! That's awesome. Glad your felt arrived safely! I had a look up there and I guess I left off the color for the pear backs. No wonder you are confused. I'll fix that. The background I referred to is the front of the pear but behind the embroidered inset. So on the yellow pear samples I used Ochre (the lighter yellow) on the fronts, and used Mustard (the darker golden yellow) on the back just to have a small contrast.
Hey, Abby, FYI, I updated the post up there^ so hopefully it is more clear! Happy sewing!
Wow super speedy response! That's brilliant, thank you so much 🙂