[Kristin]

By: Mollie Johanson (Embroidery Expert)

Autumn, as we often think of it, brings with it the smell of fall air, the feeling of a blustery breeze, and the beauty of changing leaves. With this free embroidery pattern, you can capture the most colorful part of that with a border of autumn leaves.

Whether you choose to stitch this large or small, leave it empty or use it as a frame, you'll bring a bit of this season into your home. And much like preserving leaves, the stitched version lasts much longer.

The wreath would make a beautiful border around a short quote or a large letter monogram.

Frame the finished embroidery for display throughout the season or transform it into a pillow. If you reduce the size of the border a bit, it would even work on a kitchen towel.

In addition to the circle of leaves, in the following pages you will also find patterns for the individual leaves so that you can use them on their own or with the wreath.

The colors suggested for this are bright fall colors, but you can use so many different variations. For a palette like you see above, try DMC 801, 895, 972, 946 and 304.

More muted and mellow colors would be beautiful for this, or you could change all of the leaves to shades of green to make a spring leaf wreath!

A border like this also works well for red work, although it doesn't have to be red. Try embroidering in all brown, or selecting a couple shades of orange for the entire pattern (selecting three colors that are right next to each other from a floss company's range can make this more successful).

Another color technique that would be pretty for this design is floss blending or working with variegated floss. You'll get some of the blending of colors that occurs in many fall leaves!

For a delicate way to add more color to your leaves, add some color tinting to the fabric. A wash of watercolor paint behind the leaves, even if the color bleeds outsides of the embroidered lines, will be beautiful!



Article Source: http://embroidery.about.com/