Mixed Media Textiles Tutorial - Leaves from Fabric Scraps

Before I start the tutorial I would like to thank Kirsty of Me Plus Molly for her lovely gift of bundles and bundles of organzas and angelina fibres in loads of gorgeous colours. These were the greens she sent me ...













There are lovely copper tones in the green angelina fibres - perfect for leaves and woodland projects














I love to recycle in my textile work and I hate to waste those little leftover snippets of chiffon, silk, organza, glitzy, shimmery, metallics fabrics, bits of plastic, carrier bags and waste thread too precious to throw away















I collect all these little bits in plastic pots (takeaway containers with lids are perfect for this - more recycling!). My pots of snippets are colour co-ordinated to make it easier when I come to use them later















So, I thought I would share with you another technique that uses up those little scraps of fabric

Mixed Media Textiles - Tutorial - Leaves from fabric scraps

Use a piece of felt or fleece for the background and cut some leaf shapes to whatever size you like. Mine are approximately 8 inches long and about 4 inches wide. Pile up your scraps on top of your leaf shapes














Then place a piece of chiffon on top of each felt leaf and pin in place all the way round




































The next step is to tack round the edges of the leaf. Remember tacking from school? I used to hate it. I was so lazy I used to just pin and sew and I still do unless there is a real reason to tack. Here, you really do need to tack round the edges to keep all the bits inside the felt and chiffon "sandwich" or else they just go everywhere when you start to machine embroider

Tack with a matching thread then you don't need to remove the stitches. When you machine embroider the stitches will blend in














After you've tacked round your leaf, trim away the chiffon













Machine stitch your design on the leaves over the chiffon. I used a forest green metallic thread. I sewed round the edges first and up and down the centre of the leaf first, then I embroidered veins and circles, something a bit different on each leaf - it's up to you














Machine embroidered patterns














Tie off all your ends and trim where necessary

The next step is the fun part (for me!). I heat up my soldering iron and very gently burn away the chiffon in places. It will also melt and fuse some of the other materials, ie. plastics and carrier bag plastic

HEALTH AND SAFETY - Please take care. The soldering iron will be "white hot" so don't burn yourself. Make sure you have somewhere safe to rest it, have some water handy and a wet cloth (just in case). I use the wet cloth to clean the soldering iron when it gets messy. You also need to be aware that this technique creates smoke and fumes so please be careful if you have breathing problems or are asthmatic. A mask should be worn and used in a well ventilated area or outside








































I added more machine embroidery on top in copper metallic thread and some hand stitching with beads to finish off. My leaves are not ferns but I was inspired by the brown seeds that grow on the underside of fern leaves














I used brown wool to sew the french knots for the seeds


















For one of the leaves I sewed on brown sequins with beads in copper thread. I gave the sequins a different look by distressing them with my heat gun after sewing












These are the finished leaves, each one is different. If you want, you can click on the photo to see them in more detail. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and have a go some time - it is a fun technique and you can decorate your leaves any way you like