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Three leafy templates that I settled on... |
I was on the lookout for things featuring leaves. Specifically, I was
looking for leaf templates from which to draw inspiration for an autumn
project.
My front window displays a
snowflake
(and a
mitten) for the winter season, but from March to November there's just a
kite (in December, I put up my
Christmas tree). I do switch the kite from front to back — a spring/summer thing —
but I've been wanting to make a leaf themed something or other to
hang during the fall.
What did I find from the many, many pages of results from WeAllSew?
Surprisingly — or maybe not — I came across quite a few projects relating
to leaves.
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| I regularly press leaves and flowers... |
It's indicative of the universal appeal of leaves when it comes to
crafting. Not only do people use real found leaves for crafty DIYs, representations of
leaves using other materials — paper, felt, fabric — are quite common.
Then there's AGF's Tropical Rug
project; it was and continues to be a popular draw for people to this blog. (Although
oddly enough, I have not seen anyone else's rendition of that rug in my
searches for images online... maybe my experience turned people off of making it!)
Back to my perusal of one hundred and fifteen pages, the first project that I came across was a table runner contributed by
Heidi Lund in 2017 (search for "fall leaves table runner" at
WeAllSew.com). It's a raw edge applique project with free motion quilting in the
background. Pretty, but not what I was looking for (and frankly, beyond my
skillset to make).
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| image courtesy of weallsew.com... |
It did, however, come with a three page PDF (first page of which is shown above) of
leafy templates that I immediately downloaded for future reference.
Erika Mulvenna's "DIY fall leaf decor" project(s) was the next one
that I found. It's fairly recent, from last October. She describes how to
make a leafy garland, trivet, and yet another table runner.
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| image courtesy of weallsew.com... |
This one, however, was slightly different.
Instead of a traditionally quilted rectangular piece (as the first project
by Heidi Lund was), this table runner is a collage of individual leaves
scattered into some desired arrangement and then fixed with stitching and
washaway fusible web.
I liked the technique, and it ultimately gave me an idea for my own
project.
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| image courtesy of weallsew.com... |
This post also came with a three page PDF of leaf templates, one of which
is shown above.
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| image courtesy of weallsew.com... |
The third project that I found was from 2016, "free-motion stitched fall
leaves", again by Heidi Lund. In it, she does a quasi embroidery technique
in a hoop, using free motion stitching to create individual leaves that
can be used for various purposes, like the candle mat shown above.
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| image courtesy of weallsew.com... |
There was another PDF with leaf templates for this project, shown
above. By this time, I had a good idea of what style of leaves I
wanted. (I knew, for example, that I didn't want the extreme sharp
points and crevices that some of the above leaves have!)
One of the posts featured a slew of leaf themed projects for fall ("how to decorate for fall with DIY fabric leaves"). It's from 2014, so not all of the projects may still be available.
A maple leaf coaster project from Purl Soho caught my eye,
which led to finding this template.
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| image courtesy of purlsoho.com... |
It reminded me of a similar template from Shabby Fabrics, for a placemat and coaster project found on their
YouTube channel that I downloaded a few years ago.
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| image courtesy of shabbyfabrics.com... |
In the end, this was the only template that I actually used for my project. The other two shown alongside it at the top of this post were my own hand drawn contributions.
The only aspect of the project that had already been determined was the
fabric that I would use: two selections from my
Lily and Loom Red Sky
purchase, and remnants of the
old motorhome curtains. Apart from making leaves, however, I had no idea what the final piece
would look like. (My first thought was that I'd string them along a
vertical ribbon or something and hang them one after another.)
I also didn't really know how I'd make the leaves.
Did I want them to be finished on both sides? With the same kind of fabric on both sides? Did I want them to be able to spin around? What would be on the back side, if not?
All I really knew was that I wanted each leaf to be quilted with veins,
so some fusible fleece had to make an appearance. As it turned out, the
techniques that I encountered during my search — those involving raw
edge applique and the collage-style arrangements — ended up directing my final choices.
Here's a preview of what I did. I'll continue documenting the rest of this
project as we get closer to fall.
'Til next...
Now that is not playing nice....your fall is our spring....It is now the icy part of winter here...that means I will have to wait until next March for our fall to see this project finished! 😢😢 Not really, I know...just being silly😂 Looking forward to see what you made. Take care
ReplyDeleteIf you're actually having an icy winter, you should try to send some of that northward, what with all the heat that's scorching the earth up here!
DeleteBut you're right — I often forget that the seasons are turned "upside down" for some of us. But this means that by the time you see my project, you'll have plenty of time to perhaps do your own version of it for your fall! See how it all works out for you??