Fall Needlepoint – Leaves Three Ways
Even if you live in a part of the world where the leaves don’t change much (like the SF Bay Area), fall always makes me think of brilliantly colored leaves. And since I can’t have them for real, I want to stitch them.
To stitch your own leaves begin with a simple leaf outline. Leaves are a great choice for applique quilt block and Wee Folk Art has two wonderful ones available free, oak and maple leaves. Begin by printing them out.
Adjust the size of the outline to fit the item you want to stitch. I decided to make ornaments, so I shrunk my outlines. Once you have your outline, transfer it to canvas using a pen made for marking on fabric (such as these ones from the All about Needlepoint shop).
One possibility for filling your leaves (pictured above) is my adaptation of an idea from Needlepointers (ANG’s magazine) a few years back. The leaf is filled with a textured stitch. I used Double Upright Cross with a Kreinik metallic for the bottom layer and Watercolours for the top layer.
It will ultimately be finished as adiamond-shaped ornament.
A second idea is to fill the leaf with Bargello in a pretty fall palette. Use a simple scallop pattern and leftover Persian Wool. If you are going to use dark or intense colors for your Bargello, it’s nice to color in the leaf with a lighter version of the same color to prevent needlepoint dandruff.
If you like charted needlepoint, you will adore the fall Japanese Maples from the new needlepoint guide at About.com, Cheryl Fall. This elegant pattern uses nine shades of fall colors and has a geometric border.
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We are always telling people how versatile the applique patterns are. It’s exciting to see people use a design in different ways. LOVE the stitch you’re using. I’m hoping… seriously… fingers crossed here… that when you have finished your ornament that you’ll share it on Wee Folk Art’s Flickr Group. I’m linking to you from our Facebook Site.
[...] way to accent the focal point of any needlerpoint, especially if it is a simple one such as this autumn leaf, is to have the background stitch “point” to the center of the stitching. This process [...]
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