I had a lot of fun with Sew Wild by Alisa Burke! After reading it and watching the DVD I really wanted to try some different fabric crafting, painting and sewing techniques that I’d been wanting to try but lacked the confidence for.

In fact, I like the book so much that I did a full-out review of it over on Craft Test Dummies Book Review: Sew Wild by Alisa Burke and I have an interview with Alisa as part of the Blog Book Tour Blog Book Tour: Sew Wild by Alisa Burke – An Interview with Alisa.

And if you aren’t tired of all of this Sew Wild fun yet I have a little project to share with you!! 🙂

When I do a book review for Craft Test Dummies I try to make a project from the book or inspired by the book. I mean, how else can you know if the directions are clear and the message gets across unless you actually try to make something?

Anyway, I was inspired by the leaf motif in the scarf above and it made me think about the leaves here in Ohio and how they are getting ready to turn all sorts of amazing autumn colors. And then I wondered what would happen if I took the lessons from Sew Wild and tried to make something more “me” and more “Ohio”.

And these maple leaves are what I came up with.  And I have to say that I LOVE THEM!!!

Not to toot my own horn or anything. 🙂

BUT… 1) I’ve never painted fabric in quite the way Alisa does and 2) I’ve never used my 24 year old Singer to do free motion stitching. I didn’t even know it was capable of doing free motion stitching. So after tracking down the proper foot for my machine at my neighbors house (I know, it was tough… I had to walk all the way across the yard… Scratch that… she brought it TO me!) I started playing.

First, I needed some fabric. These cloth napkins are from my Mother In Laws house. They had tiny stains and even a little fading here and there from years of use/storage and even though I didn’t really want to use them at the table – the fabric was just too good to toss out.

Then I painted them. (I won’t give away Alisa’s secrets so you’ll have to buy the book to get those!)

After the paint was dry I found a leaf in the front yard and used it to make a template which I traced on the napkins with a fine point Sharpie marker. The two yellow napkins made three leaves and the two green napkins made four; so I ended up with 14 total.

Then I broke down and gave the free motion stitching a try. Oh. My. Goodness! I was addicted RIGHT AWAY!! It’s like drawing only with thread. You won’t believe how long I’ve been wanting to try it but I always thought I’d have to buy a newer, fancier sewing machine to be able to do it.

It took a while to stitch all 14 leaves but it was TOTALLY worth it!

Then I grabbed a piece of off white wool that I had in my upcycle fabric stash and cut a circle.

I turned a stool over and traced around the seat to make the template. Yeah, I’m real high-tech here. 🙂

I sewed the leaves down (after pinning in place) by stitching along the leaf veins I had already stitched because I didn’t want any more stitching that would detract from what I already had going.

And now I have a round(ish) centerpiece for my dining table that I’m MADLY in love with!

Do you have Sew Wild? What project do you think you’ll try first?