- Pattern by Mirabilia
- Materials: Willow Wisp Belfast (Hand Dyed by Steph), DMC, Kreinik, Waterlilies, Mill Hill and Toho beads & treasures
- Size: 11.7" x 17.5"
- Time to stitch: About 16 days since 2022
Presenting my latest Mermaid!
The pattern is lovely, she has a beautiful face, magnificent hair, and a very sparkly tail. The blue and green tones are my favorites with plenty of bling from the Kreinik, and a lovely, subtle variegation in the Waterlilies silks. Her pose, afloat and resting her eyes with a dreamcatcher in her hand is just, well, dreamy. My only quibble was with her hand over the chest area, as charted it looked like a claw IMO, and I modified to make it more slender and added backstitch to delineate fingers.
As for materials, I think the Willow Wisp linen complements her perfectly, a subtle blend of light blue and purple with a touch of mint green. The chart calls for a few Magnifica beads, which don't seem to be available anymore, but from my research, I determined they are the same as Toho seeds beads size 11. The Toho ones unfortunately aren't available locally, so I ordered several different colors of Etsy, trying to color match from online photos. The ones I wound up using were Silver Lined Frosted Crystal, Metallic Cosmos, and Silver Lined Dark Aqua, as subbed for Mill Hill 2010, 10005, and 10079, respectively. I also used Mill Hill seed Beads in Light Green and pony beads in Midnight. The Kreinik #4 braid is Sky Blue, Navy, and Pewter. The Caron Waterlilies are Seaglass and Blueberry.
My favorite details are peaceful expression and her jewelry: ring, necklace, crown, bejeweled dream catcher... she is so fancy. I like how her wavy hair is beaded throughout. The tail is beaded in such a way to suggest scales, like a fish. The base fins of her tail are so big and powerful, you know she could flash through the water at lightning speed. And she's topless, but the long hair is arranged just so to provide modesty. I think she is very realistic, if mermaids exist.
So now my rotation is devoid of Mirabilia, but I do have several "fancy ladies" on the go... maybe after I finish Bellatrix and Christmas Angels, I will consider another Mira chart, or perhaps Lavender & Lace.
Oh wow, she's gorgeous! The colours are beautiful and she looks great on that fabric.
Posted by: Astrid | September 20, 2023 at 12:03 AM