fern fabric

While the palm trees of Southern California (in my old life) were beautiful- I do have a soft spot in my heart for the wild ferns in Oregon- boy have I missed them! The Pacific Northwest is home to about 40 different species of ferns and it seems everywhere you turn you are able to find these gorgeous green beauties! I couldn't resist creating my own fabric using a variety of ferns from our yard and a few simple surface design techniques from my book Sew Wild.

The first technique is a glue resist- all you need is Elmers Glue, a paint brush and ferns (any leaves or anything with texture will also work).

I covered the ferns with glue and then pressed them into the surface of fabric- it left an imprint (almost like a stamp) in glue. I covered the surface and then let the glue dry completely.

Next, I painted over the top of the fabric with dye.

Once the surface was dry, I heat set my dye with an iron and then washed the fabric.

The glue washes away and in its place you have a beautiful imprint of the ferns.

Next, I used the ferns as a stencil and as a stamp by placing them on the surface of my fabric and then painting over the top.

I also covered the ferns with dye and then pressed them into the surface to leave an imprint

I covered my fabric with layers of fern stencils and imprints.

Of course I couldn't resist putting my fabric to use!

I cut it up and used all of the pieces to create "scrappy" place mats,

I sewed all of the scraps together with lots of free motion stitching.

And just like that I created a set of place mats for our dining room table!