🌸 Craft Your Own Enchanting Embroidered Brooches: Step-by-Step Tutorial to Turn Leftover Treasures into Delightful Keepsakes!🧵

Today, I wanted to do something different. Perhaps, like many of us, you have small treasures lying around, such as leftover threads, fabric, or felt scraps from your embroidery or craft projects that you just can't bear to throw away. Let's turn these into delightful little brooches and make the day even more enjoyable.

Isn't it wonderful to repurpose these materials and create something beautiful?

Making small brooches allows you to express your creativity while giving new life to those forgotten remnants. Not only will you enjoy the process, but you'll also have unique and personalized brooches that can serve as lovely gifts for yourself or your loved ones.

Let's embark on this creative journey and transform those leftover threads, fabric scraps, and bits of felt into charming brooches. It's a delightful way to spend your time and give those materials a purposeful and aesthetic existence.

While searching for materials to make the brooch, I discovered some delightful deep fuchsia felt scraps in my fabric stash.

I couldn't help but smile! To add a touch of fun and playfulness, I carefully selected vibrant yellow and refreshing green threads.

Of course, feel free to choose colors that resonate with your own unique style.

As you embark on your own brooch-making journey, embrace the joy and let your imagination guide you in choosing the perfect palette.

Our first project will be a fun elliptical brooch with embroidered yellow roses in a flower pot. You can access the PDF pattern I drew at the link below.

Here’s the PDF printable for the pattern

"Ellipse brooch" - embroidered yellow roses in a flower pot - Free Pattern

As I was getting ready to start, it occurred to me that not everyone might have a small embroidery hoop of the perfect size to fit a small piece of felt. So, I came up with my own solution.

I noticed a thick wire with a plastic coating lying around, and I can't remember why I bought it, but it's going to come in handy today.

Using a pair of pliers, I shaped this wire into an oval ring and secured the two ends together with adhesive tape. There you have it, a makeshift hoop!

Then, I attached my piece of felt to this wire hoop by stitching it securely around the edges with a strong thread. I made sure it was taut enough for embroidery.

Now that the hoop is ready, let's get started.

Please click to see more on Cast-On Stitch stitch technique.

Before starting to embroider the front side of my brooch, I placed the oval template of the front piece onto the stretched felt on the hoop and traced around its edges.

Now we can start embroidering the tiny yellow roses.

I want to create a textured effect, so I've decided to use the cast-on stitch technique to make them appear puffy. I won't go into detail about the technique here, as I have shared detailed tutorials in previous posts.

You can find them through the links below.

To ensure a smooth flow, I have provided step-by-step visuals and diagrams showing the progress of the embroidery, as each rose gradually takes shape.

This way, you can easily follow along and see how the roses emerge one by one.

Now it's time to add the three-dimensional tiny leaves. You may be familiar with the woven bar stitch technique. However, the technique I'm about to demonstrate is my own invention, and we can call it a "self-standing woven bar stitch." For this, I used a small piece of craft foam.

Along the bottom edge, I made intermittent cuts with scissors and threaded my weaving threads through these cuts from the back to the front. Then, at a distance equal to the length of the leaf, I inserted a large-headed pin into the foam and crossed the ends of the thread over the head of the pin to secure them.

I may not have explained it clearly, but if you pay attention to the images below, you'll see that it's not actually difficult. :)

I wove my threads with a needle attached to each end.

Here is the final result of the woven leaf I created.

This technique has a pleasing aspect as it creates a concave line resembling a leaf. It provides a realistic leaf appearance. However, if you find it too tedious, you can also opt for tiny woven picot stitch leaves, which would serve the purpose just as well.

I arranged the woven leaves around the roses in a pleasing design and stitched them onto the felt using the leftover threads hanging from the ends of the weaving.

I cut the backside of the brooch from felt, matching the size of the template. To add a stylish edge, I thought it would be nice to create a simple crochet lace border. If you're not familiar with crochet, perhaps there is someone nearby who can assist you. I must admit that I chose to seek my sister's help at this stage.

Now it's time to create the inner piece that will give the brooch a sturdy and firm structure.

I could have used cardboard for this, but I wanted my brooch to be washable.

I thought cardboard wouldn't hold up well against water. As you can see from the image, I easily cut a piece from a plastic yogurt container lid that matches the size of my template. It was a straightforward process.

I used a sharp-pointed hole punch to create holes on the piece cut from the yogurt container.

These holes will come in handy when securely attaching the piece to the felt later.

Here, all the necessary components for my brooch have come together.

I decided to make do with the materials I have, so instead of using a brooch clasp, I opted for a small gold-colored safety pin. If you have a brooch pin available, feel free to modify this part according to your preference.

I placed the safety pin horizontally at the center of the oval felt piece. Adding a small square felt patch on top, I carefully stitched it securely to the oval. The open part of the pin remained outside, while the back side was neatly attached between the felt layers.

To add a personal touch, I embellished the back with delicate stitched branches and scattered lazy daisy leaves and French knots for a charming floral effect. Our brooch is now coming together with its own unique flair.

Now it's time to add the plastic piece to the project. The holes I made on the plastic plate will come in handy. I position the plastic piece under the back part where I attached the safety pin.

I thread a pink thread onto the needle and begin my work. I pass the needle through the holes in the plastic piece, coming to the front side.

Here, I create a French knot and bring the needle back to the back side. I continue making French knots until the plastic piece and the felt piece are securely attached to each other.

This way, my stitches are not visible on the front side but instead form decorative pink flowers.

Now, I'm placing the felt piece that I've embroidered with roses onto the center of the felt piece that has crocheted edges. I'm threading the needle with the same yarn used in crocheting and starting to sew carefully.

I didn't need to make any tacking stitches to secure the pieces, but you can do it if you prefer. I've decided to make visible stitches from the top in a style that matches the direction of the crochet thread. Since I'm using the same yarn, it looks like a continuation of the crochet work.

When I started the project, I had planned to cut out a pot shape from felt and sew it, or make a small pot using crochet and sew it. But suddenly, my eyes caught this cute button in the shape of a flower pot, which was part of my sister's collection of sewable objects for her Etsy shop. These objects were designed for embroidery hoops, but I wanted to see how it would look on a brooch. I guess borrowing one wouldn't hurt.

Now it's time to incorporate the tiny clay pot button, which will be the highlight of my brooch.

I sewed it just below the embroidered flowers, using the small holes at the four corners of the pot as a guide for threading my needle and thread, as shown in the picture below.

Now I have only two pieces, the front and back, and I sewed them together using the same color thread that I used for the crochet work.

And here is the final version of my brooch, I hope I have inspired you.

Explaining how I made it took longer than actually making it. I hope I have provided you with useful information that will be helpful to you.

If you are curious about the tutorials on how I made my other brooches, I have included the links to each of them below. Enjoy a touch of aesthetics!

Step-by-Step Tutorial: Crafting a Heart Felt Brooch with Sunflower Embroidery

Step-by-Step Pansy Brooch: A Playful and Joyful 3D Embroidery Tutorial with Crocheted Flowers!

Easy and Adorable: Tutorial on Making a Cute Heart Brooch with Tiny Daisies

I have an awesome YouTube channel where I share fantastic embroidery tutorials. Join me as we explore the world of needlework and unleash our creativity together. From colorful threads to innovative techniques, I've got you covered. Come and be a part of this exciting journey with me!