I’m a collector. Twigs, lichen, shells, leaves, if it’s lying on the ground and catches my eye, it soon finds its way into my sewing room. So began the embroidered ‘Ivy’ piece!
Find a leaf, make a pattern - interconnecting all of the lines.
I always look for a gentle outline and the pattern of the veins. When I’m happy with my find, it’s photographed and changed to black and white. That way the lines are more easily defined. From that image, I then go on to trace a pattern onto paper, making sure that all of the lines interconnect. If they don’t, when you sew and then dissolve your fabric, the stitches won’t maintain the shape of the leaf - in fact, you’ll be holding a huge pile of loose threads!
What you actually want is this!
When the fabric is dissolved the work is patted dry then stored between absorbant material under a heavy weight so the piece carefully dries flat. Then the piece is ready for shadow mounting.
Leaf collected, pattern drawn, stitching, dissolving and mounting! Ivy complete, off to the framers!
