Fall Leaf Ornament
Fall Leaf Ornament
I wanted to do a little something different, kinda multimedia-ey, with a package of really cute fall silk leaves I picked up at Dollar General. This ornament was inspired by the stitched hearts I am making from an old, literally falling apart, quilt and one of my last year’s Christmas projects involving gluing shapes to paper bags. So looking at my bag of leaves I thought “Hey, why not combine the two?” and thus this ornament idea was born!
While I was stitching I was reminded of the Doctor Who episode “A Good Man Goes to War”. In this episode a human female “Order of the Headless Monks” solider hailing the Gamma Forest stitched a prayer leaf (a good luck token) for the kidnapped Amy’s newborn baby girl, Melody Pond. The solider, Lorna Bucket, only joined the order’s army in an attempt to meet the Doctor, who she met as a child, once again. She later goes to warn the Doctor’s Army of treachery and fights with them but is slain.
It doesn’t really resemble the prayer leaf much but just somehow the hand – mind connection was firmly established while I was stitching! Maybe it’s just the time immortal figure of a woman hunched over her sewing placing well wishes for the recipient with every stich taken.
Materials
- Silk fall leaves
- Embroidery thread
- Rick-rack
- Buttons
- Fabric strips
- Paper bags
- Fabric glue
- Brown cardstock
Also Needed
- Bamboo skewer
- Needle
Photo Tutorial
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- 1. Assemble supplies. Select fall colored craft materials (thread, ribbon, trim, etc.).
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- 2. Apply fabric glue to the back of the leaf with a bamboo skewer. I find a skewer easier to use to apply glue than a paintbrush which gets all gummy.
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- 3. Use the skewer (or your fingers if you don’t mind “glue fingers”) to press the leaf onto the paper bag.
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- 4. Cut and glue a stem from brown cardstock if desired. After the glue dries trim the bag close to the edge with pinking shears.
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- 5. Use the needle to punch holes in the silk leaf about 3 mm apart. It was a little hard for me to push the needle through the layers and pre-punching the holes made the stitching super easy!
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- 6. Whip stich around the leaf with contrasting thread. Use short pieces of thread to help reduce tangles.
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- 7. When rounding the corners place several stiches in the same hole so the corners look more “finished”.
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- 8. To tie the short end of the thread off leave the loose thread on the back of the leaf. Then leaving a short “tail” place a few stiches with the new piece of thread. Then tie the two thread ends together.
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- 9. Make a bow with a torn fabric strip. Then secure the bow “shut” by sewing a button in the center.
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- 10. Punch a hole in the stem of the leaf and tie on a strand of thread for a hanger. After the bow is attached sew the buttons on with contrasting thread.
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- 11. In this example I did not leave a stem so I sewed a loop of rick-rack directly to the top of the leaf for the ornament hanger. I love this craft because there are just so many ways to go! Make a dozen of the same style or twelve unique ornaments!
