Woodland Strawberries by Margaret Light

What is it that makes strawberries such a popular subject in needlework? Is it the rich red colour of these delicious berries? Is it their satisfying shape; the beautiful blossoms that appear on the plant; or the way they grow, shining out in scarlet glory between the deep green of the leaves?

Since medieval times, strawberries have appeared in needlework in various forms. Especially during Elizabethan times, the motif of the strawberry was common. The strawberry has held various meanings throughout the centuries, representing love and sensuality, fertility and abundance and even temptation and lust.

Regardless of its symbolism, the strawberry makes a perfect subject because of its wonderful colour and shape.

Although strawberries can actually grow in colours as diverse as yellow, blue, black, white and purple, the red strawberry is the best known and the one which appears most commonly in needlework projects of all types.

Margaret Light’s Woodland Strawberries from Inspirations issue #113 is a project that follows on from this long tradition of strawberries in needlework. This practical and handy bag is adorned with a design worked in traditional crewel embroidery. The project features a number of stylised plants in Jacobean style, with the shining strawberry plant sitting proud on one of the hillocks.

Margaret is famous for her intricate crewel work. She is constantly experimenting with different colours and stitches, and this project is a wonderful one to start out with if you love Margaret’s style.

The detail comes from the fact that Margaret won’t simply settle on one or two types of stitches. She gains so much pleasure from including different stitches in her designs, allowing the stitcher to experiment and learn from every one of her projects. The result is a piece so packed with detail you can spend ages exploring it with your eyes, delighting at the minute intricacies as much as the overall effect.

One of the things that makes Woodland Strawberries so special is that it is finished as a tote bag.

This means that once you’ve completed the stitching journey, your piece does not languish on a wall, visible only to the lucky few who happen to walk by.

You can proudly carry your completed Woodland Strawberries with you when you next go shopping or meet with your stitching friends, so everyone can see your work and admire the stitching.

Margaret Light has always been one of our most popular designers, and projects like Woodland Strawberries help to explain why. It is the perfect combination of traditional embroidery in its choice of style and motifs, and modern styling in the range of stitches, colour palette and practical finish. This is definitely a project for everyone and is guaranteed to become a favourite amongst stitchers of every kind.

Make Your Own Woodland Strawberries

Step 1 – Purchase Project Instructions

Woodland Strawberries by Margaret Light is a beautiful linen shoulder bag with crewel-embroidered luscious strawberries and flowers in full bloom.

Step 2 – Purchase Ready-To-Stitch Kit

The Inspirations Ready-To-Stitch kit for Woodland Strawberries includes everything* you need to re-create this beautiful shoulder bag: Fabric (unprinted), fusible wadding and interfacing, sewing thread, embroidery threads and needles.

*Please Note: To cater for flexibility of purchase, instructions are not included with our kits. For step-by-step directions on how to create this project, please refer to the magazine/digital pattern.