Some time ago I acquired some pecan leaves from a tree grown by my friends. They were always destined for the dye pot! Some prints turned out crisper than others, but overall I loved these prints. They were printed onto leftovers from a skirt lining and some other plain cotton fabric I bought at a church fete… it clearly had a weaving defect of some kind that meant none of the selvedges and none of the grain in the fabric ran straight. Best not used for clothing, perhaps, but I have had a great time taking it from plain white to all kinds of other treasures.
Once I had pieced all the oddly shaped sections together, I had four decent sized panels, and the challenge of choosing which I would prefer on the outside and which for the inside.
In what turns out to be just about a signature of my sewing, I preferred the pieced together panels to some of the whole leaf prints.
But the whole leaf prints were good too.
I decided to give this bag to some friends who live locally. I often see them in the distance with one calico bag or another in hand or over shoulder… so it seemed likely this would be useful to them. And I love that they live nearby and that they are fellow carers for the neighbourhood and its people. I slipped it in their letterbox with a little card…
Local & Bespoke 
lucky friends! what a beautiful thing.
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Thanks!
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l must make a point of hunting down some pecan leaves as l do love their shape and prints
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They are lovely, aren’t they?
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wow, who knew? That is a real treat for friends, you are the real friend!
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You’re so kind!
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I’ve been searching for pecan leaf/tree fabric for a quilt I’m making. I’m representing each state with its state tree. Do you have some of the pecan leaf fabric that I could purchase?
Rita
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Hello Rita, thanks for your query. I am sorry to say that I don’t! I turned it all into bags and gave it away to friends… I don’t have a pecan tree myself so I don’t know when I will be able to access more leaves. Good luck with your quest. The quilt sounds amazing.
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Thanks for getting back to me. The pecan is for Texas and it is so big I need to find something. I may have to make small leaf prints from a stamp, if I can find one, but I think I’ll have to enlist my daughter-in-law to help with the stamp making. It is a fun project.
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These are gorgeous! I was on a walk and noticed some pecan branches in my neighbor’s rubbish heap. Do you have any advice for dyeing these? I had read you could dip in iron mordant before placement on fabric.. I’m happy to see what you did works on cotton, it’s all I have at the moment. Thank you for sharing!
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Thanks Mary! You do need to mordant the cotton (I use soy milk made at home) and surely, iron would help (I;m a fan of iron in this kind of context)–I use rusty object water. Enjoy your find!
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