All about jewellery making

When inspiration for your jewellery making projects is slow why not take inspiration from your wardrobe and use it as an opportunity to accessorize?  Individualised accessories can turn plain into perfection!  Recently I turned to my felt stash to create this funky flower brooch…..

to compliment this bold retro print top:

Inspiration was taken from one flower from which I made my own paper pattern.  I layered up the felt embellishing it with my favourite embroidery stitch - chain stitch.  The introduction of metallic thread keeps it up-to-date and the addition of a brooch bar on the back provides maximum versatility for positioning on the garment.

Accessorizing is fun, looks good and makes you feel great!

The earrings have not yet materialised - I am having a bit of an inspiration slump!  However I have made this felt flower brooch:

The centre is filled with stuffing to add a 3D quality and the whole flower is hand stitched.  In reality the pink is a bit brighter than in the photo but it is so hard to get a true likeness with some colours, red and pink in particular.

:: Beaded and tatted lace flower corsage brooch ::

Supplies needed

1x brooch back

1x small piece of felt

2x petal pieces with small hole in the centre (see note below)

1x 4 hole button

Fine wire

Small amount of size 11/0 seed beads to match your chosen colours

PVA or fabric glue

Note

This style of brooch is very simple to make.  I cannot give the instructions for the tatted lace flowers here as they are under copyright but if you want to emulate this exact brooch the pattern can be found in ‘Tatting Patterns’ by Lynn Morton (Guild of Master Craftsmen Publications) pp. 18 - 21.  You could however use crochet flowers, felt flowers or even pre-made silk flowers if you take them apart so that you just have the main petal shape.  It is up to you and you can be as inventive as you like.

The brooch is basically constructed by the combination of>

• a brooch back
• the petal pieces (with a small hole in the centre)
• a 4 hole button

These are layered in the order given.

Step 1

Cut approx. 1m length of wire and thread it up through a hole in the button, thread on 11 seed beads and then put the end of the wire back through the same hole from which it came.

Step 2

Repeat step 1 but this time bring the wire out of the next hole.

Step 3

Repeat step 2 twice more until all holes of the button have beaded loops through them.

Step 4

To give the centre more interest take the wire back up and repeat through all four holes with another colour seed bead adding a few more beads to give the loops extra length.

Step 5

Repeat yet again but this time come up in one hole and down another, this mean s that the beaded loop will span the space left between the loops you have already constructed.  Again experiment and adjust as you prefer.  When you have finished make sure that both ends of the wire are poking through the back of the button as we are going to use them to wire the brooch back in place.

Step 6

Now that you have completed the centre of the flower take the ends of the wire through the hole at the centre of both flowers.  Use the ends of the wire to bind the brooch back in place.

Step 7

Once the brooch back is secure cut a small piece of felt big enough to cover the wired area of the brooch pin.  Stick it in place using a dab of glue.  Not only does this hide the wire binding but ensures that the wire will not stick into the wearer or catch on their clothes.

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