Floe the Fairy Penguin by Carolyn Stanton

Sometimes words can get in the way.

When it came to writing about the feature project for this issue, there were lots of ideas and different ways that we came up with to introduce the world to our latest crush.

One of our favourite ideas was simply to put together nothing but a montage of images and let the pictures tell the story. When you see how adorable this gal is, you don’t need our words!

Then we thought about it a bit more and decided we wanted to cover off a couple of quick bits of important information to ensure we did her justice. 

After all, Floe has stolen all our hearts here at the office and we really owe it to her to ensure she gets a proper introduction.

She is the creation of the exceptionally talented Australian needlework artist Carolyn Stanton, and it is our great privilege to welcome Carolyn to Inspirations magazine for the very first time. Talk about creating an entrance, first project and straight on the front cover!

Carolyn is renowned for designing fun and fabulous creations that combine wool felt with a variety of exciting stitches that perfectly capture the spirit of the particular creature that she is bringing to life.

Floe is stitched with wool, stranded and perlé silk, using a variety of linear and filling techniques. The subtle thread palette of black, white, pewter, forget-me-not and sky blue is an ideal accompaniment to the monochrome wool felt used to create the body.

Complete with a handle to help her move about, Floe’s body is weighted with beans or rice to ensure she stays exactly where put.

Using wool felt as a material to design fabulous objects dates back centuries and was particularly popular in ancient cultures such as Mongolia, Turkey, and Scandinavia.

Wool felt has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years, thanks in many ways to designers such as Carolyn, who has taken this wonderfully versatile material, and elevated it to new heights. This has been achieved by applying intricate and clever pattern designs along with beautifully ornate embellishments using sophisticated embroidery techniques.

If you’ve never used felt before or hadn’t considered it a bona fide substrate for embroidery, it’s absolutely worth trying as you’ll be surprised just how enjoyable and challenging it is at the same time.

Floe has been created using 18 different surface embroidery techniques and when finished she measures 23.5cm x 13cm wide (9 ¼” x 5 ⅛”).

Oh, and if you’re wondering where her name came from…

Floe /fləʊ/ noun – a sheet of floating ice.

Super cute name to match a super cute penguin and we hope that you too will fall in love with Floe in the same way we have.

We have all the materials you need to re-create this project yourself, from easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions to a Ready-to-Stitch kit with everything sourced for you.

*Instructions – As this kit does not include instructions, for step-by-step directions on how to create this project, please refer to Inspirations magazine issue 123 or the Floe the Fairy Penguin  digital pattern, both purchased separately.