If you enjoy sewing and embroidery then you might like to try combining these skills with the craft of leaf printing. You can easily use a leaf print as the basis for a beautiful piece of embroidery. The leaf provides the initial design and then you can use your creative skills to bring it to life through your sewing. The process is quite simple and cheap as you do not need a lot of expensive equipment.
Making the Pattern for the Embroidery
Select a piece of pale fabric, such as white cotton, to print on. I have found that some men's handkerchiefs can work well for this process. Once you have your fabric then go outside and gather up some leaves. Make sure that they are the right size and shape to fit in the centre of your material.
Leaf printing involves putting ink or paint on the underside of the leaf and then pressing it down to make a print on the fabric. If you use a thin layer of water soluble ink then it can be washed off after you have completed your sewing. You can apply the paint or ink with either a paint brush or a roller. Once the leaf is covered in ink then you need to push it firmly down onto the fabric. You may want to do a test print, on paper, before moving on to the material.
Starting your Embroidery
Peel the leaf away from the fabric and leave the pattern to dry. Once your prints are dry then you are ready to use them as the basis for your sewing. You simply need to select a thread of your choice and then carefully follow the lines of the leaf with a simple running stitch. This means that you reproduce all the natural beauty of the leaf in your stitching. If you are experienced in embroidery then you could experiment with other stitches in order to enhance your work.
Experimenting with Threads and Colours
If you are working on white fabric then dark threads create a very clear image. Another idea is to work using gold or silver threads as these produce sparkling results. You could also try making your initial leaf print on dark cloth using white paint or ink. Once this is done you could use pale or silver threads to embroider your leaf pattern.
The combination of these techniques will produce wonderful results because your embroidery will be following one of Mother Nature's most beautiful designs.
Susannah White - Susannah White lives in Gloucestershire, England where she works in education. She has an M.A degree in Writing For ...
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