Botanical Prints to Beautiful Quilts
When I moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, three years ago, I was astounded by the beauty and lushness of this habitat zone. Having come from drought-prone California, I was not accustomed to cottonwood leaves the size of salad plates and lush ferns growing like weeds around the edge of my yard. I felt like a kid in a candy store! They inspired me to create some botanical prints and turn them into beautiful quilts.
These large leaves felt like an invitation to get out my big gel plate and have some fun playing with color and pattern! Working with a 12″ × 12″ plate is a great way to create large fabric blocks for a fast and beautiful quilt. This size gel plate will accommodate a variety of sizes of single leaves, ferns, small branches of leaves, and other items that catch your eye in your local natural world.
Let’s get started!
MATERIALS
✓
Soft rubber brayer (not foam or acrylic)
✓
Slow-drying acrylic paint in 2–3 color (I use Golden® OPEN™ acrylics exclusively. Make sure it says ‘open’ or ‘slow-drying’ on the label to ensure the drying time is slower than regular acrylics—this is how I get beautiful, delicate ghost prints.)
✓
2¾ yards prewashed natural fiber fabric at least 42″ wide (I used cotton sateen from Dharma Trading Company for the table runner.)
✓
Leaves, freshly picked or preserved
Leaves or stems with thorns are not suitable as they will permanently scratch the gel plate.
✓
Repurposed non-glossy paper such as newsprint or phone book pages
✓
Sink or bucket of soapy water for cleanup
✓
Batting
✓
Backing and binding fabric
✓
Vegetable glycerin (Often available in drugstores, crafts stores, and online.) Optional
DIRECTIONS
Make the prints
1
Cut the fabric into 14″ squares—from 2¾ yards of 42″+ wide fabric, you will get 21 squares. If you are using a smaller or larger gel plate than suggested, cut fabric squares 2″ larger than the gel plate.
I always cut twice as many squares as I need for a project; in this case, I needed ten 14″ squares so I cut 20 to allow for both experimentation and mistakes.
2
Cover a work surface or table with newsprint. Place the supplies on top.
3
With the brayer, roll the first color of slow-drying acrylic paint onto the gel plate in a thin even layer and place a leaf on the plate—it doesn’t matter which side is up as you will use both sides. (figure 1)
4
Place a square of fabric on the leaf-covered gel plate. Aim for an all-around 1″ overhanging edge.
5
Place your hand in the middle and press firmly. Rub from the center out to make good contact with the painted surface. Be careful as you press to prevent the fabric from wrinkling or the leaf from moving. Rub around the stems and leaves. (figure 2)
6
Remove the fabric and set it aside, paint side up.
The first print is usually the least interesting—there is a lot of blank white space—but don’t worry, the magic is about to start!
7
Lift the leaf off the gel plate and set it aside on the newsprint, paint side up.
8
Before rolling more paint, place a new square of fabric on the plate and rub as in step 5. Lift the fabric and now you have a gorgeous ghost print. (figure 3) If there is a lot of paint of the first color on the brayer, roll the excess paint off before proceeding with the next color.
I use an old phone book or catalog for this job and then turn the page so it’s ready to use for the next color.
9
Prepare to add the second color to the gel plate but DO NOT clean the plate first—the slight residue of the last color mixing with the new color is also part of the magic! Add the second color to the gel plate as in step 3 but this time place the leaf paint side up. (figure 4)
10
Place a new square of fabric onto the leaf/gel plate and rub as in step 5.
11
Remove the fabric. You now have a two-color print. (figure 5)
12
Lift the leaf from the gel plate, place it paint side up again, and print another ghost print, as in step 8.
13
Continue with a third color, if using, and repeat with all the leaf shapes until you have printed all the fabric squares.
Create the quilt
1
Review the prints you made and choose which ones you want in your project.
2
Arrange your favorites in the block configuration you are using. Look for a good variety of colors and leaf shapes.
I wanted somewhat equal numbers of my three colors—blue, gray, and crimson—and a balance of values (both the first dark print and the lighter ghost). Rearrange the chosen blocks and audition different configurations. Keep your cell phone at the ready to snap a photo before shuffling them around. That way you can get back to a favorite layout. (figure 6)
3
Once the layout has been selected, square up each block leaving a ¼” white border around the printed area to preserve as much of it as possible. Sew the blocks together with ¼” seams.
4
Complete the quilt as desired.
For quilting, I used a 30wt variegated cotton and quilted all the seams in the ditch, finishing by outlining each leaf and some of the more prominent veins. (figure 7)
Once you’ve played with a 2– or 3–color limited palette and feel comfortable with the technique, then bust out and play! Mixing and matching colors, overprint full color and ghost prints on top of each other to make some magical combinations such as in “Spring Unbound.”
Make a Plan
Before you begin you have some choices to make.
First, decide the finished size of the quilt and how the blocks will be arranged. I’m sharing my 3 × 3 and 4 × 4 block layouts and my project’s layout is a 2 × 5 block table runner for my big farm table.
The second choice is color. The beauty of printing your own fabric is that you are in complete control of the color combination. For my project I chose three colors: Anthraquinone Blue, Alizarin Crimson Hue, and Neutral Gray. If this is your first time printing, I recommend using just two colors like in the 3 × 3 turquoise and orange quilt pictured—I used Cobalt Turquoise and Quinacridone Burnt Orange.
One way to make your color choice is to consider its purpose. Where will I use this quilt or who is it for? In my table runner project, I chose the blue because it matches my dinner plates, and the gray is like the wall color in my dining room. The crimson brings a warmth and brightness to the other two colors.
The third choice is which leaves to use. My table runner project uses three leaf shapes: a large fern, two heart-shaped cottonwood leaves, and a nandina branch but your choices may be different depending on where you live and what you can find in your neighborhood.
Your fourth and final decision is which fabric to use. You can successfully print on any natural fiber fabrics like cotton, linen, or silk. All of these make beautiful prints. I find the most detailed delicate prints come when using a smooth fabric like cotton sateen or silk. For this table runner I chose white cotton sateen. Experimenting with different fabrics is part of the fun. Muslins, natural linens, or light-colored fabrics all work.
Make Your Leaves Last
When printing with botanicals you can use fresh leaves recently picked—but once they begin to wilt or get dry and crackly, they don’t print well.
A solution: Use glycerin to preserve the leaves for later use.
1
Stir together 2 parts water and 1 part vegetable glycerin.
I mix up about 3 cups at a time—it can be used multiple times and stored in a sealed container.
2
Place the mixture in a flat open pan—I use a cheap cake pan; you’ll need two.
3
Immerse the leaves in the mixture then put a second cake pan on top to keep them immersed. Let stand for at least 24 hours and up to 72 hours.
4
Remove the leaves from the solution, dry them between paper towels, and press them between book pages or place between cardboard and add a weight to press. Leave for a week or more to dry.
5
When you remove them, the pressed leaves will be dry but still supple and can be used to print multiple times.
With a little creativity and the right techniques, you can transform botanical prints into beautiful quilts that make your projects truly one-of-a-kind.
Happy quilting!
This article, written by Lisa Thorpe, originally appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of Quilting Arts Magazine
Enjoying this article? Sign up for our newsletter!
*This article contains affiliate links that help us earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We’re grateful for your support!
Join the Conversation!