The autumn collection
These come from across our categories, but they share a season. Leaves first, because leaves are what autumn stencilling is really about: the shapes are bold, forgiving and instantly recognisable, which makes them the best-behaved stencils in the whole library.
Maple Leaf
The definitive autumn shape. Repeats beautifully, works from gift-tag size to statement wall.
Free A4 download →Oak Leaf
Rounder lobes, sturdier presence. Pairs with the maple for a mixed leaf-fall effect.
Free A4 download →Pumpkin
Works all season: plain for September, carved-face variants for the spooky end of October.
Free A4 download →Mushroom
Woodland charm for nurseries, jars and kitchen boards. Sweet at small sizes.
Free A4 download →Sunflower
Late-summer into harvest. The radial petals hold their shape at any scale.
Free A4 download →Fern
Turning-bracken texture for table runners and wrapped gifts. Handle the fronds gently.
Free A4 download →Bare Tree
A stripped-back silhouette that carries the whole season on one wall.
Free A4 download →Botanical Wreath
Frame a painted monogram from our letter set for doors and signs.
Free A4 download →For the spookier end of the season, the Halloween designs live in the holiday category: jack-o'-lantern, bat, ghost, spider web, witch and the haunted house. And when the leaves are done, the snowflake is waiting.
Five autumn projects that actually work
The falling-leaf wall
The classic, and deservedly so. Print the maple at three sizes — 100%, 70% and 45% — and scatter them diagonally down a wall corner as if caught mid-fall. The trick is restraint and rotation: odd numbers, every leaf at a different angle, denser at the top thinning toward the floor. Copper, burnt orange and mustard on a warm neutral wall looks like a boutique café; all one colour looks even classier. Our wall technique guide covers the adhesive and paint mechanics.
Harvest table linen
Oak and maple leaves stencilled along the border of a plain cotton runner, in fabric paint, heat-set with an iron. One afternoon, and it comes out every September for a decade. The fabric guide has the paint specifics — ordinary acrylic cracks in the wash, so don't skip it.
Pumpkins without the knife
Stencil designs onto real pumpkins instead of carving them: they last for weeks instead of days, and small children can join in safely. Chalk paint grips the waxy skin best; hold the stencil against the curve and dab in sections. A white pumpkin with a black maple leaf is effortlessly elegant; the spider web wrapped around one is Halloween sorted.
Kraft paper gift wrap
A roll of kraft paper, one leaf stencil, one metallic paint. Repeat the leaf loosely across the roll and you have wrapping that looks hand-printed because it is. People genuinely keep it.
The doorstep welcome board
A sanded scrap of plank, a wreath stencil, a name or "welcome" from the letter stencils inside it. Outdoor acrylic and a coat of matt varnish makes it weatherproof through to bonfire night. The making guide covers laminating your stencils if you're doing several boards.
Autumn colours that work through a stencil
| Palette | Colours | Where it shines |
|---|---|---|
| Classic harvest | Burnt orange, mustard, deep red | Leaf walls, kraft wrap, pumpkin displays |
| Modern autumn | Terracotta, sage, cream | Living rooms and table linen that stay up past November |
| Woodland | Moss green, brown, copper metallic | Mushroom and fern projects, jars, boards |
| One-colour elegance | Single warm neutral on white | When in doubt. A one-colour leaf fall never looks wrong |
Timing tip: if you're making for the season, start in September — a leaf wall painted in November keeps you company for a fortnight. And the paint rule holds in every season: nearly-dry brush, dab don't stroke, peel while tacky. The full technique lives in the complete stencil-making guide.
Print once, use all season
Autumn projects repeat — the same leaf lands on the wall, the runner, the wrap and three pumpkins. That's the season to laminate: print on 160gsm card, run it through a laminator, and one stencil survives the lot. The printing guide covers settings and paper; every download here is an A4 SVG that also cuts cleanly on a Cricut or Silhouette if you'd rather the machine did the knife work.