I was not satisfied with my leaves yesterday, using fusible interfacing. The leaves were small and by the time I turned them right-side out, they had stretched and all were somewhat miss shapen. Live and learn. The method worked just fine for the larger bird and the pineapple.
This time I redid the leaves and red flowers using a heat resistant plastic template, with starch swiped over the seam allowance of the fabric, and pressed the seam allowance over the template. The result is much better, and neater with only one burned thumb. Also, you only need one template for all the leaves.
Why do we resist trying new things? I've wasted more time RESISTING, than actually TRYING this method that works wonderfully! Yep Mom, you were right - I can hear you now. 8-))
By the way, acrylic nail tips work well for this process! Your fingertips are close to that iron.
The photo shows 13 leaves done, with 6 more ready to prepare. This took me about 45 minutes ??? to make that bunch of leaves and flowers.
On the right is my pile of discarded leaves. Also, on the RIGHT, there are two yucky red flowers made the same fusible interfacing way - didn't like them either, so I remade them (left) with better results. It's still fiddly getting into the 'V' neatly.
I'll bet you 'real' applique'ers are laughing at my amateurishness. 8-)))