Bendable leaf experiment

One of the quilt shows I watched had a woman who does amazing 3-D fabric art show how she makes her leaves. I can't remember her name but will find it and add that information at the end as an update.

So this morning I decided to play

 

You basically take your leaf shape and sew it onto felt before you cut it out making it easier to deal with.

I'm doing this from memory and couldn't remember if she used fusible or not. The front one I did not use fusible and sewed the vein lines first. See how it bubbled up? I'm not saying that's wrong, maybe you want that effect. The one in back is fused and I outlined the edges first. It lays flatter. I like that way better.

Those shiney things could be fly wings, not sure how that's gonna go :-/

 

So then on the back you zig zag carefully some wire on the middle vein line leaving a few inches free at the bottom for a stem. Now remember I am using what I had at hand. She says to use floral wire which is green and you would want to use felt, fabric and thread that would blend together not the blazing orange and brown thread as shown here.

 

Then cut it out and wrap the part of the wire that hangs down in floral tape. I think I would take the time to do a satin or narrow zig zag along the edge. It seems to fray with just outlining it.

 

But see how it bends!

 

I'll have to try some with the right color thread. That middle stands out like a sore thumb but you get the idea. I will have to get Glen from Lousianna to move here quickly with her beading boy toy. Wouldn't these be cool with some beading added?

I like :-)

BTW the artist who showed how to do this is Susan Else

Her work is something else - lol!

 

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