My Months Long Aloe Vera Project

Fabric aloe vera plant...

It's been mentioned here that hubby and I have houseplants that are over thirty years old. Over the years, I've grown quite weary of watering and tending to them (particularly vexing when we go on holidays, although I must say that during our recent two week absence, my watering setup worked quite well on everything) and have welcomed the fact that several have reached their natural lifespan and given up the ghost, so to speak.

Late last summer, I happily threw out the remains of an asparagus fern that had been dangling from the top of our second floor staircase for twenty-nine years. It had been a housewarming gift and although some people love these things, it was not a favourite of mine. Little leaf "blades" fell from it onto our (carpeted) stairs constantly and the long fronds were actually very thorny and difficult to handle in terms of arranging or pruning.

Of course, once it was gone, the spot where it used to sit seemed like a lonely, empty space. I decided an artificial plant would its place; specifically, one that I had previously deemed something I would never make. From the YouTube channel of Retales de Mil Colores, my choice was an aloe vera plant that would require me to make forty-two leaves!

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Deciding – I made the decision last September – and executing were two distinct phases of this project.

As I found out when I made tulips from that same YouTube channel, I don't have a lot of green fabric. I considered making a denim version for a time, but I ended up searching through my closet for something more suitable to recycle.

A jacket that can be sacrificed for crafting...

Again (as I found out when I made the tulips), I don't have a lot of green clothing. But I did find this little jacket that's a light shade of sage green. (It was part of my work wardrobe and like my pant suits and blazers, this type of clothing just doesn't get much wear from me these days.)

Also – since it's a size 00 – I figure it would have limited appeal as a donated item. So in mid-October, I took my scissors to it and harvested enough fabric to make up over half of the required forty-two leaves.

It's a bit of a time-consuming process no matter what...

The remainder of the leaves would later come from blue/green selections from my Lily and Loom purchase. By the end of October, I had the above plate of leaves all traced out and mostly cut.

At some point in mid November, I gathered up some of my larger fusible fleece scraps and pinned them patchwork style onto the smaller leaves.

Fabric leaves sewn together and turned out with fusible fleece interfacing inside each...

It was December before I pinned the remainder of the fabric to fusible fleece. The pieces were then sewn together along the edges, pinked, turned right side out and pressed.

Doing that for forty-two leaves is a bit of a process no matter how you look at it. Over the course of the first week of December, it got done, slowly.

Pressed and ready for more sewing...

This is one of the few projects I've done that's required an assembly line style of construction, although I didn't quite follow it to the "t". I assembly-lined three groups of leaves. (There are four different sizes, ranging from six small ones to fourteen large ones.) As it turned out, it was a good decision, since my fingers got sore from using the hemostats to turn and the pinking shears to trim.

I did, however, stop after they were all turned and pressed, leaving the final "sewing down the center of each leaf" to be done all at once.

Centers sewn and stacked in "order"...

I harvested fabric from both the inside and outside of the jacket, meaning that some of the leaves had one side that was made out of a (fairly sturdy) nylon satin from the lining. Seven of the leaves feature this fabric on the top side.

The start of the hot gluing process...

The gluing process took place on the weekend of December 7 & 8.

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Here is the finished plant, with all forty-two leaves hot glued together.

Top view...

Even though I scaled the pattern up by 25%, it's nowhere near the size of the old asparagus fern. But it has taken its old place at the top of the stairs. (I imagine that I could add another layer of leaves to make this plant more of a statement piece, but that's a thought for another day.)

I won't have to water this one...

I found a square wooden box that had previously held a fresh flower arrangement as the container.

And it won't drop anything down onto the stairs...

I appreciate the fact that I took another of my unwanted garments and turned it into something else that will give me pleasure.

But for something so inherently simple, this took a long time to complete... not to mention a long time to post! (And further proof that we should never say "never"!)

'Til next... 🇨🇦🍁