Floral image transfer

During my initial research I came across a method used to transfer the natural colour in flowers and leaves onto fabric. You can find a tutorial here if you are interested on trying out the process yourself.

In the tutorial they used violas which gave quite an effective result, so since I have them growing on my allotment I thought that I would try with them to start with.

As you can see, the results can be a bit hit and miss, if you'll excuse the pun.

This is with verbena and forget-me-not flowers. I was expecting the forget-me-nots to come out really bright blue, but they came out a bit smudgy, the verbena came out well though.

These are rocket leaves and flowers. The leaves came out well because they are an interesting shape but the flowers just turned out like yellow blobs. I think it was because they are quite delicate.

My top tips for using this process is to choose flowers that are quite flat in shape and that are not too delicate to handle. The flowers turn out best if they are placed face down on the fabric. It is important to use a light coloured natural fabric and flowers with strong colours to get a clear crisp effect.

Although I would use this process again, I don't think I will be using this process on my final outcome as the results are varied. I think it would work best to try lots of flowers and then cut them out and appliqué them onto your finished textile work. That way you can be more selective and only use the best results.