Autumn Leaf Ornaments

I managed to finish quite a few machine embroidered lace ornaments over the last couple weeks...if you have followed my blog for quite some time, then you know I make these to slip inside cards, tie on packages, and for seasonal decorations. These have been so popular, I decided to make even more to put in my Etsy shop...and not only did I make additional snowflakes (which are always in demand), but I made some autumn leaves...and a bunch of Halloween motifs. The autumn leaves and snowflakes are already listed in my Etsy shop and the Halloween ornaments will be posted very soon! These ornaments are made on my embroidery machine...and are technically called "free-standing lace"...they are made entirely of thread!

For those of you not familiar with an embroidery machine, here is a little idea of how these autumn leaves are made - using digitized designs, the machine embroiders the ornaments on water-soluble stabilizer...once the design is completely stitched, you put it in water and the stabilizer dissolves, leaving you with a beautiful piece of lace made completely of embroidery thread. I like to put a piece of ribbon through the hanger on each leaf or snowflake before placing it in a card or on a gift. Each large motif can take anywhere from 45 minutes to well over an hour to make, so I usually set up my machine and let them embroider while I am working on various other chores in my studio...the larger and more detailed the design, the longer they take to embroider. In the photos you can see a selection of my embroidered leaves...the size of the maple leaf is 3.91" x 3.93" and the size of the oak leaf is 2.82" x 3.94". Many digitizers offer freestanding lace designs for machine embroidery (just do a google search), but if you are interested in these particular leaf designs, they are designed by Criswell Embroidery & Design...you can purchase the digitized designs from this designer at your favorite quilt shop or download them from their website.

I will be back to post again soon with photos of the Halloween ornaments...they are truly spooktacular!