Flower Brooch Tutorial

One of the things on my 2010 crafty list was to make a brooch to wear with my (cream) sweater. Originally I was planning to make it out of felt, but seeing as the sweater is wool I thought it might be better to have more contrast.  So I came up with this:

 

To make one of your own you need:

• Scrap piece of linen (I used teal)
• Scrap of natural coloured canvas
• A bit of lace (two types)
• Brooch back or safety pin
• Scrap of felt
• Matching thread

Step 1: Cut the pieces

Cut three blobby shapes out of the teal linen and two out of the canvas.  The smallest blob is about 1.5 inches across and the largest is about 3.5 inches.  The layers should alternate colours so the first blob is cut out of coloured linen, the second out of natural canvas, etc.

 

Cut a piece of lace, 7-8 inches long, from each of the two laces.  I used one that had thicker thread (almost crochet looking) and one that had thinner thread.

 

 

Here's another shot of the blobs, with a ruler for reference:

 

 

Step 2:  Sew and gather the blobs.
Using matching thread, sew around the blob, about .5 inch from the edge.  Use a largish stitch length and don't backstitch at the ends.  Holding onto both bobbin threads (the ones on the underside) or the top threads loosely gather the blob to your liking and knot the ends.  (Knot the bobbin threads together and the top threads together, two knots per blob.)

 

 

Step 3:  Sew and gather the lace.
Layer the two pieces of lace on top of one another and sew along the "flat" edge without backstitching at the ends.  Gather tightly and form the lace into a rosette.  Secure the lace in this shape by taking stitches on the underside.

 

 

Now your pieces should look like this:

 

 

Step 4:  Layer and secure the blobs.
Layer the blobs on top of one another, alternating colours and take a few stitches to secure in place (they will be covered later so thread colour doesn't matter.)

 

 

Step 5:  Add the rosette.
Place the lace rosette in the middle of the blobs and take a few stitches to secure in place.

 

 

Step 6:  Attach a pin.

Ideally I guess you would use a flat backed brooch pin but I didn't have one on hand so I used a safety pin.  Either way, secure your pin of choice in place with some (or in my case a lot of) stitches.

 

 

Step 7:  Make the back look pretty.

Not that anyone will see it, but I thought it would be nice to finish off the back to hide all the stitches.  Cut a small leaf shape from the felt, making sure it fits between the pin ends, and stitch in place using matching thread.

 

 

And you're done!  Hooray!