TDITM: Lady Dancing finished!

Yahooo! I might do a little dance myself. I’m very happy to have finished this Lady for my daughter’s TDITM set. If you can believe it, I actually finished the ornament before November but waited to post it. I’m hoping to avoid the Christmas Crazies. The crazy comes every year, but hope springs eternal.

She was made according to my pattern, with a few embellishments. I thought about giving her gold boots, but the awesome teal boots won out in the end. I wish I had a pair! I substituted 4 mm sequin/bead combos for the French knots on the flower stamen, and I used gold metallic felt for her cap and the flower petals on her skirt. Then I looked at the completed ornament and did not like the front of her skirt, seen below. It was too glinty. I could not face redoing the whole ornament, so I painstakingly removed the flower and two of the sequins and replaced them, seen above. Doing this while the Lady was wearing the skirt was not ideal. Zero stars, do not recommend. But I managed it. And I like it a lot better!

Above is a closeup of the sequins/beads I subbed in for the felt flower on the cap. The wood bead for her head was sealed with hairspray (yes, that’s a thing). Because the unfinished bead is sealed, I used permanent markers rather than gel pens or fabric markers for her features and hair. Sealing the bead does stop the potential ink bleed, but it also gives a sheen to the ink and makes it harder to fill imperfections in the wood with ink. So there are pros and cons.

BENZIE DESIGN FELT COLORS:
Blends: Mustard, Copper, Coral, Turquoise, Burgundy, Orange
100% wool Bellwether: Teal, Gold Metallic
The detailed color guide will be live tomorrow.

THE SET SO FAR:

Woohooo! ELEVEN patterns down! Just one to go! Let’s finish strong, fellow mmmakers! Remember, even if you are just getting started and can only make a few, you’ll still be closer to a set by Christmas! Next up is Lord a-Leaping with the bonus True Love Heart, and I’ll be pivoting back into the teal/green end of my TDITM palette. Check here for more info about the challenge.