In decorating my home for fall, I didn’t have to look very far for materials. My yard is covered in fallen leaves, in every shape and color. I had already brought in some of the more beautiful leaves and put them in a vase on the counter, but I wanted to find a way to do something more with them. I decided to see if they would go through my sewing machine.
I used about a yard of green velvet ribbon and stitched up a very pretty and quite dramatic leaf bunting. To make the garland, I used the ribbon for the ends and sewed the leaves to themselves. It was very easy, once I figured out the trick: keep the presser foot UP. The feed dogs don’t like leaves, so just keep the presser foot up and manually feed the leaves under the needle.
Related Projects
How-To: Make a Gumdrop Garland
How-To: Make Garlands from Fall Flowers
Materials
Leaves
Sewing machine
Scissors
Ribbon
Thumbtacks
Directions
Step 1: Collect a large pile of leaves and remove their stems.
Step 2: Start the garland with a length of ribbon and a single leaf. Set the sewing machine to the longest straight stitch. Place the ribbon and leaf under the needle, but don’t lower the presser foot. Sew the leaf to the ribbon.
Step 3: Add another leaf, overlapping the first. Feed them under the needle by hand, gently pushing them through. Continue adding leaves, layering them however you like. I made sure to add them with the leaves pointing up and down and all around.
Step 4: Use thumbtacks to hang the garland. Press the tack into the ribbon in a place where it is hidden by a leaf.
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