Today's DIY is a brooch and if you are a craft newby then this one is easy enough for you to take on. The brooch or rosette is something you can do to add as a gift topper or even pin to the front of a handmade card for your award winning mom. Most of the items you might already have or you can easily get them from a craft or haberdashery shop and due to the fact that it is fairly quick you still have the rest of the week to get making and creating!
What will you need >
Scissors
Fabric: Quilting fabric works best
Ribbon to match your fabric
Felt in a shade to match your fabric / ribbon
A button or two
Brooch back
Needle and thread in a shade that matches your fabric
A tape measure
*Not pictured, but necessary:
Pins
Glue gun or craft glue - if you are using a glue gun please be careful! DIY not ER is what we are aiming for!
Measure a strip of fabric that is 36 centimetres long and about 3 centimetres wide. Mark your measurements with a light pen or pins.
Step 2 >
Next cut a small slit at the edge of the fabric.
Step 3 >
From the small slit you cut - tear your fabric in a long slit up to the 36cm mark. A good, strong fabric should tear in quite a straight line. If this scares you a bit then feel free to draw a line and cut it instead.
Step 4 >
You should have a long strip of fabric as per the measurements above. Don't worry about the stray, frayed threads too much as we will tidy them up towards the end.
Fold the patterned sides of the fabric together...as if you are folding your strip in half with the wrong side facing outwards.
Next take your needle and tread and sew the two ends of the strip together. Hope this is making sense :-) Make sure to knot your thread so that it won't pull through as you sew. Finish it off and make sure that it is won't pull lose.
Step 5 & 6 >
Thread your needle again with quite a long piece of thread. Make sure it double for extra strength, but do not knot the end. Next do a running stitch along the edge of your fabric, but only going through one layer of fabric.
If you uncertain what I mean by the stitching - basically you thread the fabric onto the needle with even gaps then pull through and repeat. See below how I have almost bunched the fabric onto the needle. Do this all the way around till you are back where you started.
You will need to concentrate so that your thread doesn't pull through, otherwise you will need to start all over again. Below I am left with two little tails of thread on either side of the fabric. To now make your circle you pull these two threads away from each other - like a drawstring.
It will only bunch together along the line you sewed it and here is what it will look like...once you flatten it and shape it a bit.
To finish it off and to make sure it doesn't pull lose - knot your thread tails together tightly a couple of times and trim shorter to neaten. You can also tidy away any frayed threads by just cutting them off.
Step 7 & 8 > Now the fun can begin...
Glue your ribbon to the back of the fabric circle. Make sure to line it up with the seam you sewed at the start.
Next you can cut a small circle from felt. I traced around a button to get the shape. You can either sew the brooch back on or glue it on. If you are sewing it on be sure to do this before you glue the felt on. If you are glueing the brooch back on then you can use a piece of ribbon or felt to cover the brooch and secure it further.
Stick the felt circle onto the back of your fabric circle.
Pick a button for the centre and glue or it on.
All done! Add it to your wrapped Mother's day gift or card.
Some pretty ephemera can add to it or even your favourite photo of the two of you.
I hope that was easy enough - if anything wasn't clear then please just leave a comment and I will get back to you! Happy crafting friends!