If you subscribe to Inspirations Magazine, you might be a lot like me!

When each issue arrives, I give it a preliminary glance because I just can’t wait to see what’s inside it. But then I set it aside until I have time to really savor it. I usually do this over a long and lingering lunch or a couple cups of afternoon tea. I go through the whole issue and I read everything. I even read the ads!

And often, I find myself drooling over the projects. There’s always a few projects in each issue that really grab me. I want to embroider them. Now! And while that’s not always possible or even practical, sometimes, I come across projects in the magazine that I definitely want to stitch with my own hands.

For me, the best approach to having everything ready when the time is right is to order a kit.

I love the fact that Inspirations offers kits for the projects in their gorgeous embroidery magazine! We’ve chatted about the advantages (and some disadvantages) of embroidery kits recently, and in an effort to help you find good embroidery kits available today, I’ve been reviewing some of my favorites lately.

Today’s review is an Inspirations kit – specifically, for Modern Crewel, a project designed by Susan Porter and featured in Inspirations Issue 90.

Modern Crewel is not a crewel embroidery kit, actually.

The project includes many stitches that are found in crewel work, and it imparts, on a smaller scale, a hint of what crewel embroidery looks like, but it’s worked in cotton fibers.

What do you think grabbed me with this project?

Yep! The colors! I think they’re fun!

While I work with blues and greens frequently, I don’t normally work with these blues and greens, and rarely do I combine them.

The turquoisey blues and bright yellow-greens – they’re modern, they’re bright, but they’re also light and airy.

When I first saw the combination of colors on the project in the magazine, it took me by surprise and immediately attracted me. Then, the design and the smaller scale of the project drew me in. I really love it!

The kit comes with all the threads necessary to complete the project, in full skeins and twists. There are ten shades of DMC floss and four specialty overdyed threads.

You’ll also find all the fabrics necessary to complete the piece – in this case, a gorgeous linen ground fabric in natural, with cotton muslin for backing and wool felt for padding.

If the design features beads (this one does) or specialty items, they’re included as well.

And all the needles necessary to work the embroidery on the particular project are also included. In fact, I really like the way Inspirations does their needles. They include a printed chart of “actual size” needles, broken down in different types of needles, and each needle for the project is stuck in the appropriate place on the chart

Inspirations kits don’t include the instructions for the project, and the designs are not pre-printed on the ground fabric. The instructions and the design are found in the corresponding issue of the magazine.

As long as you have the appropriate issue of the magazine along with the kit, you’ll have everything you need to get started right away on the project.

I like to photocopy the project pages in the magazine and bag those up with the kit components, so that I have everything condensed in one project bag and so that I can keep my magazine in good shape. With the photocopied pages, I can mark notes on them, fold them up small to reveal just the sections I want, and in general, not feel too bad about messing them up a bit!

Where to Find Them

You can find Inspirations embroidery kits through Inspirations Magazine’s website, out of Australia.

For US readers, this involves overseas shipping, but good news! Right now, you’re only paying about 74 cents on the Australian dollar.

With the current exchange rate, it’s a great time to subscribe to Inspirations magazine, if it’s on your wish list (they have both print and digital options). It’s a gorgeous magazine and definitely a must for embroidery enthusiasts. I really think it’s the best embroidery-related magazine on the planet! Subscribers also get a 15% discount on kits, which is a nice bonus.

Coming Up!

I’ll be showing a few more kits in the future. One is…well, to die for. When you see it, you’ll know it’s a project I couldn’t pass up, it’s right up my alley.

I’ve also got a little surprise for you, in the give-away arena. Because, you know, I gotta spread the kit-love!

I’m also working on a new little project of my own. I keep hinting at it – I promise I’ll show it to you soon!

Do you have any particular embroidery designer whose kits you’ve wondered about, but not purchased yet yourself? You’re welcome to drop me a line with any questions. If I’ve encountered them, I’ll share my thoughts.