Thursday, October 15, 2009

Ghost Leaves Explained

I made a "ghost" leaf for each of the fall leaf blocks.
I used sparkly tulle sandwiched in between layers of hand-dyed cheesecloth.
I used orange cheesecloth on top of the tulle and brown on the bottom.
I had a hard time deciding how to mark the leaf shape so I could sew around it. I finally would up using a freezer paper template ironed on and then I traced the shape on my machine using a straight stitch.

Then I removed the freezer paper and satin stitched around the edge of each leaf shape and stitched a leafy vein in the center of each "leaf."
I cut out each shape and fastened it to the block using beads.
This is a finished block -- note the thick sparkle thread marking the veins of the hand-dyed leaves. I wound the thread on a bobbin and sewed it on each one from the back.
If you click on the pictures, you can view them close up.

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