Pansies are my favourite garden flower, their velvety texture and jewel colours can brighten the darkest corner of the garden and the markings on their throats invite closer inspection. Their simple old fashioned charm is hard to beat in my book. (Though roses and lilies are good too, if in a grander league). Though “cardies” have had a bad press in the past and have a “Miss Marple” “mumsy” reputation they can be comforting to wear, lightweight but providing just enough warmth on the arms. (Plus a bit of cover is a good thing if our triceps aren’t quite what they used to be. We may not want those bingo wings on permanent display.)
But after realising I was always wearing a black “cardi” over plain tops I thought a shot of colour may be in order and here is the end result. These pansies were appliquéd onto the bottom of my black cardigan using contrasting coloured stitching to imitate the markings on pansies, along with some sparkly beads for a bit of extra interest and some leaves. Before starting to stitch your cut out pansies in place it is a good idea to put them in a pleasing order and pin in place. Otherwise you can end up with all your least favourite colours to somehow put on at the end, not so much fun. The contrast straight stitches were done with stranded embroidery cotton and the colour combinations of the flowers were mixed up for variety. This cardigan goes through the washing machine on a normal cycle and has been going strong for a good four years.
