ipe Daily Bliss: Happy Dancing

Daily Bliss

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Happy Dancing

Living with Charm



Deigned by Lizzie Kate

Stitched with Sampler Threads & Weeks Dye Works on 32 count Lambswool by Wichelt.
Ripped off by The Silver Needle shop with their ridiculous postage costs.

Date started: 24th June 2008
Date finished: 16th July 2008



While I really like the end product, I'm very much aware that this is the most expensive project (by far) that I have ever undertaken. Lizzie Kate patterns are overpriced to say the least, but I did the following breakdown exercise & so am convinced to think very, very carefully before I buy another item of stash.

All in all, my costs were as follows: pattern costing $119US (includes 6 installments which cost $11.95 each to post!) & fabric and thread another $75US (more US postage included). The framing will cost approx $200AU.

Yes, I'm peeved with myself. I didn't think enough before I said to myself that I wanted this project. I usually spend about $50 max on any project (plus framing). My gorgeous Frederick the Literate was a mere $32AUD.

Fortunately for me, a LNS has recently opened, so if I ever want to do the Christmas with Charm, I can buy the patterns in one foul swoop for about $60. Yeah, right! I think I will use the idea but design something of my own.

Why have I published this breakdown online, you might ask?

Fellow stitchers, it's time to be brutally honest with yourselves. What have you got in your stash pile that cost a fortune that I now want to kick you in the butt to wriggle along and do?

Bliss

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with you: those tiny charts are way too expensive. I was thinking about doing the same pattern as you but gave up on the idea because of the prices of those charts. I also don't use silk threads or expensive threads (only DMC).

Our passion is expensive but it makes us happy too ;-) Next time, you'll think twice about a project. We always learn from our mistakes.

7:54 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm lucky that most of my charts, fabric and threads have been given to me. All I need is time to actually do them.

10:46 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am planning on stitching the LK Christmas Flip Its...if you're interested, I can give them to you when I'm done? Email me! rubberkeyhole@gmail.com

4:10 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the finish, Felicity :) I plan on doing this with good 'ol DMC or perhaps converting it to HDF silks as I'm not fond of the Weeks or Sampler threads.

I'd also like to do the Christmas version but I think I will wait until Karen at Dragonfly Dreams gets them in. I have plenty of other stuff to keep me occupied until then - lol!

8:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oops, old habits die hard! Dragonfly Dreams is now called The Stitching Post!!

8:01 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow you'd never realize how expensive something like this is to do untill you break it down like that. I'm planning on doing the Christmas one but, I"m just going to use plain old DMC. I only use Weeks or GAST one the small pieces and not that offten at that when I do do a small piece like L*K.

9:27 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I resisted the double flips for a while because of the expense, but ended up buying them when I filled up my LNS' punch card and getting 20% off the price. I usually shop around and try very hard not to buy on impulse. I let ideas stew for a while before I go out and buy something, but I have to say it's pretty hard reading all these blogs and seeing all the fabulous stuff out there.

If you're upset about the shipping, have you looked into ordering from different shops? I've never used them myself, but I have heard that Mary Kathryn at eHandcrafts and Amy at Down Sunshine Lane have reasonable international shipping. From what I can see, the Silver Needle is quite expensive even for US shipping.

I also tend to stick to DMC for most things, unless a called-for overdyed will really add something to a piece. If there's not much varigation in a thread, I don't see the point in using it, and if the varigation doesn't add anything to the piece, I don't bother. And when DMC goes on sale, I try to stock up on colors I don't have.

10:36 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your bitter-sweet HD! I'm sorry to hear that you feel soooo ripped off! I don't know about you but after finishing mine I had tonnes of thread left, so to me I look at that as Stash enhancement. I do try to find the best deal I can before I buy something. I rarely complain about the cost to kit things up becuase these days dinner and a movie costs just as much or more and that's just one evening's entertainment where we get MONTHS of enetertainment out of stitching a piece.

Now framing... that is a rip off! Did you know that the average mark up is 300% on framing? That's why I took a course and now I do my own.

1:00 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Uh...I purchased the Princess Diana chart from The Stitchery. It costs WAY more than I would EVER pay for anything else, however, it's the closest to her likeness that I've see so far. It was $60US.

6:16 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My most expensive just has to be Taj Mahal Mandala Gardens. I did buy the charts as a pack but decided if I was going to use the correct threads I would buy the proper skeins a few at a time. I have not and will not work the costs out it would spoil the pleasure.

As for silk many of them are 12 ply rather than 6 and you only need to use 1ply of thread rather than 2 so they often do not work out much more than cotton, in fact if you compare costs it sometimes works out cheaper. I like Dinky-Dyes hand dyed but only ever buy silk as for about 70p more you get twice as much usage.

1:46 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have to admit that I've done a few projects in the past that I wouldn't have even entertained had I know what the total cost of the supplies etc would be. However, I can't undo what has past, only think a little longer in the future.

11:30 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had this same epiphany a while back. I've undertaken some of the more expensive projects in my stash as a result. I still don't feel much the wiser! ;)

1:45 am  

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