The Flower Fairies Collection Is Coming

by Olivia Spencer February 24, 2023

The Flower Fairies Collection - 1st March

Whether you had one of the books as a child, your mum likes them, or you've never seen them before, Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies are the most perfect illustrations for a yarn collection!

There are nearly 200 Flower Fairy paintings to choose from, but I have condensed this limited collection down to just 7 fairies, all of which are variegated/speckled. There are also 7 tonals in this collection which are all designed to go perfectly with the variegated colourways.

I thought I'd bob a quick blog post together to take you through a bit of the process of developing this collection - it felt like hard work but I took lots of pictures so I may as well share!

This is also the perfect opportunity for you to see all of the colourways in one place, and learn more about the base selection on this preorder. I've included all the information you need to plan your projects in advance of the collection going live, so no need to mess around on the day!

A bit about the fairies

Cicely Mary Barker was an illustrator from Croydon, England, best known for her depictions of fairies. Her first book, Flower Fairies of the Spring, was published in 1923, originally accompanied by a verse or poem. Cicely Mary Barker went on to publish 170 illustrations, which have become popular with both children and adults throughout the world. 1

This collection draws on inspiration from 7 fairies from the Flower Fairies of the Garden 1944 collection, which I've detailed for you below.

Choosing the fairies

There are hundreds of lovely Flower Fairies, but I chose to go down the 'Flower Fairies of the Garden' route to keep things seasonally-neutral!

Having chosen the 7 fairies, I set to work making up samples of each colourway, but having never made hugely neutral colourways, it was a bit of a challenge.

I've popped all the fairies I chose for you below:

Illustrations from Flower Fairies of the Garden

Dyeing the samples

I took photos of as many of the colourways as I could while they were in development! And lots of time-lapses so you could see the process. I've popped these for you to see below...

Choosing bases

As this collection will be on a preorder basis, there's no limit to how much yarn you can order, meaning I've expanded my base range hugely so you can order as much or as little as you need for your project. Order what you need or more - when I say this preorder is limited, I mean it (due to licensing agreements!).

The bases I've chosen for this collection range from standard bases all the way up to one of the most luxurious bases on offer. For this collection, I'm reintroducing Aran for the first time in about a year, and I've introduced Sport weight for the very first time (I'm hearing Andrea Mowry patterns calling...). Have a look below and see which ones take your fancy:

Mohair Fluff - 72% Mohair, 28% Silk, 400m per 50g

Suri Silk Fluff - 74% Suri Alpaca, 26% Silk, 300m per 50g

Merino Sock - 75% Superwash Merino, 25% Nylon, 425m per 100g

Merino 4ply - 100% Superwash Merino, 400m per 100g

Merino Singles - 100% Superwash Merino, 350m per 100g

Mohair Singles - 56% Superwash Merino, 44% Mohair, 350m per 100g

Neppy 4ply - 85% Superwash Merino, 15% Donegal Neps, 400m per 100g

MCN 4ply - 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon, 400m per 100g

Merino Sport - 100% Superwash Merino, 262m per 100g

Merino DK - 100% Superwash Merino, 225m per 100g

MCN DK - 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon, 212m per 100g

Neppy DK - 85% Superwash Merino, 15% Donegal Neps, 212m per 100g

Merino Aran - 100% Superwash Merino, 166m per 100g

MCN Aran - 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon,166m per 100g

Illustrations from Flower Fairies of the Garden

Taking the photos (the most exciting part!)

All of the colourways were dyed on all the above bases, so taking the photos was the last step (obviously apart from all the marketing etc). I chose a selection of dried flowers as part of the backdrop for this collection to really make those colours pop against the hessian. And here they are in all their glory...