As promised, here’s one more way to use leaves to influence your fall fashion. Rather than use tracings or stencils made from the leaves, I used the leaves themselves as the “mask” before painting. I laid them down on the skirt, added a touch of glue stick to encourage some of them to hold independently (to contend with the gentle breeze created by the spray paint), and peeled them up when I was done. Now that it’s December, and leaves may be scarcer, you can swap out the leaves for some paper snowflakes to get festive.
Materials:
-Denim skirt (or, start with an old pair of jeans, like I did!)
-Fabric spray paint (gold)
-Pressed leaves (collect freshly fallen leaves a day or two in advance and press them between pieces of plain paper in a heavy old book)
-Glue stick
Optional (if you plan to refashion your jeans into a skirt first):
-Seam ripper
-Sewing machine and matching thread
-Fabric scissors
Make it:
1. Lay the skirt flat on some newspaper (to protect your work surface).
2. Arrange the leaves over the front. Dab the back of each leaf with a single dot of glue stick (just enough to hold it still at the center).
3. Spray the gold fabric paint over the entire front of the shirt. Embrace the splatters!
4. Peel up the leaves, set them aside, and let the skirt dry for a few minutes. Then flip the skirt over and reposition the leaves on the back before spraying again. Let dry completely (about 4 hours should do the trick, but check the instructions on the packaging of the paint) before wearing.
5. Try it on!
