Ornamental Leaves - DIY

Create these beautiful fabric leaves in a few steps from scraps of fabric to give your reception tables a distinctive modern look. The decorative leaf stems are simple to make and look so chic.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

Enough to make three branches.

• Twelve pieces of 22 gauge florist wire in 46cm lengths for central branch
• Four additional pieces of 22 gauge florist wire for smaller branches
• 30 cm cotton fabric
• Vliesofix
• Pinking shears
• 1 roll green florist tape
• Sewing machine and thread

1. Download petal template
2. To make one branch with seven leaves cut out 14 petals in cotton fabric and 7 pieces of Vliesofix.  Fuse the Vliesofix between the two layers of cotton fabric following manufacturer’s instructions.
3. Trim the edges of the petals with pinking shears.
4. To make the central branch, wrap four lengths of wire with florist tape.
5. To make smaller branches, cut a single piece of wire into 10 cm lengths.  Cut 6cm pieces of tape and wrap around the wire.
6. To construct petals, place a 10cm piece of branch wire on top of the leaf about a 1/3 of the way down from the pointy end. With your machine set on a wide zig-zag stitch, sew over the branch several times being careful not to hit the branch with the needle. Repeat this process until you have made all your leaves.
7. To assemble, take your central branch and wrap the stem of your first leaf around one end of the branch. Attached the rest of the leaves at approximately 3 cm intervals (see image 1). Once all the stems are attached, cut a piece of floral tape and wrap the central branch again to hid the attached stems.

Tips and tricks that might help when using florist tape

The trick to getting a good result when binding your flowers with florist tape is to continually stretch the tape while at the same time using your thumb to smooth the tape against itself.  Be careful not to pull the tape too tight or it will snap. The tape has wax embedded in it and, if it is not stretched, it doesn’t warm up and stick to itself.  Work with small pieces – if a piece is too long, it will twist and bind up on you just like a bad piece of sticky tape. If you’re having trouble getting used to the tape, practice wrapping it around a pencil before using it for your project.