My
sweet little textured leaves came to life one day as I was doodling and
stitching.
I wanted to create a new leaf to compliment a posey of flowers in a design and thought how lovely to combine my two favourite stitches – back stitch
and blanket stitch.
Someone
else may well have done similar leaves in the past but I’ve never seen a leaf
like mine before so I’ve called it a Jenny Leaf because it features in most of
my designs lately.
Want to try one?
Trace
the design onto your fabric, fuse a thin stabiliser behind the traced design,
choose a green thread and we can begin!
Note: I've stitched my leaf with a single strand of Aurifil 12 weight which is the same as using 2 strands of embroidery floss.
Start
your backstitch at the base of the leaf where the centre line begins.
Stitch
around the whole leaf.
Your
entry holes for the right side of the leaf will become your entry holes for the
blanket stitch so think about this as you stitch.
Small
stitches will mean more blanket stitch veins on the leaf.
Larger
stitches will give fewer veins.
Ignore
the first backstitch entry hole (if you have small backstitch) and begin your
blanket stitch at the second entry hole on the right side of the leaf. However, if your
backstitch is large begin at the first entry hole.
Sew a
line of blanket stitch all the way up the centre of the leaf.
When
you come to the top omit the last backstitch entry hole if your backstitch is small.
If your stitches are large sew a blanket stitch into
every entry hole along the right side of the leaf.
Finish
the centre line of the leaf by sewing one straight stitch and ending it just
slightly above the point of the leaf.
Stitch
the second leaf.
It
will be much quicker this time.
Now
that you’ve sewn two leaves would you like to make a little scissor keep?
Fuse
a piece of thin Pellon behind your stitchery.
Trim
the stitchery to 3” (wide) x 3 ¼” (high).
Cut
a piece of pretty fabric the same size.
Pin
the fabric and the stitchery together, right sides facing.
Sew
a ¼” seam around 3 sides, and ¾” along each end of the fourth side to leave an
opening for turning out.
Turn
the needle-keep right side out, press, and fill the inside with stuffing.
Ladder
stitch the opening closed.
Instead
of a flower we’re going to add a button under our leaves.
Choose
a button to compliment the fabric you’ve used at the back of your needle-keep.
But
if you want to really compliment the fabric you could always do what I have
done and self-cover a button with a scrap of the fabric for a perfect match!
You know, with a pretty pair of embroidery scissors one of these scissor-keeps would make a lovely gift and as it's July already it might be time to start filling the Christmas pressie box.
Just a suggestion! Ha ha!
I've included this full tutorial in the free pattern so save it to your computer and it will always be handy.
Start to finish this little project took me 30 minutes so it might be a good one for a friends sewing afternoon at your house...of course with coffee, cake and chatter it might take you a little longer than that, but imagine the fun?!
It's Monday morning here and while Mr E's at work and Blossom's beloved is back from overseas so they are relishing family time with little Cully May, I shall get moving with housework and a bit of baking because...we have friends coming to stay later this week for a one night stopover as they travel around Australia on their motorbike and sidecar.
We've never met in person but have known them for a number of years so it should be a lovely night!
I wonder if you can guess who?
Enjoy the new week!
hugs
