Plant Lady Brooches: Embroidered Brooch Tutorial

This week I'm sharing three fun felt tutorials for adding a bit of plant lady style to your outfits... starting with this embroidered brooch:

These leafy designs would make great gifts for the plant-lovers in your life! You could also leave off the brooch backs and use the designs as patches to sew on your rucksack, jacket, or other items that don’t need regular washing. UPDATE: you can now find the cactus brooch tutorial here and the monstera leaf brooch tutorial here.

The tutorials originally appeared on the Village Haberdashery's blog and were created using felt and other craft supplies from their shop.

You will need:

- The plant lady brooch templates (follow the link to view and download the PDF template sheet)
- Pink and green felt
- Matching sewing thread
- Light, dark and mid green embroidery thread
- A brooch clasp
- White tissue paper
- A pencil or fine pen
- A sewing needle and pins
- Sewing scissors or embroidery scissors (these are great for cutting out small shapes!)

To make a Plant Lady brooch: 

1. Trace the brooch design onto a piece of white tissue paper, with a sharp pencil or a fine pen. Roughly cut out the design and sew it to a piece of light pink felt with large tacking stitches.

2. Embroider the lettering and the outlines of the leaves with backstitch, sewing small stitches as you sew around the curves. Use three strands of dark green embroidery thread (from a skein of six strands) for the lettering, and two strands of mid green thread for the leaves.

3. Remove the tacking stitches and gently tear away the tissue paper, carefully removing any remaining small pieces of paper with a pin.

4. Fill in the leaves with two strands of light green embroidery thread, as shown.

5. Trace the circular brooch shape onto a piece of white tissue paper and cut it out. Position this over your stitching so it’s centred and pin it in place. Cut around the circle then unpin and discard the tissue paper.

6. Place the felt circle on a piece of bright green felt and whip stitch it in position with matching pink sewing thread.

7. Trim the green felt, leaving a narrow border around the pink circle. Use this shape as a template to cut out a matching backing piece of bright green felt.

8. Turn the backing piece over. Sew a brooch clasp in position with a double thickness of matching sewing thread. Place the front and back of the brooch together and sew around the edges with whip stitch and more matching thread.

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This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it to make as many brooches as you want for yourself or as gifts, but please don't make any for sale. You may borrow a couple of photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to this page on my blog, and do not reproduce my entire tutorial / share my templates on your site. Thanks!

Sample Sale This Weekend!

I'm having a sample sale this weekend, selling lots of my hand-stitched pieces at bargain prices.

Here's a peek at some of the things which will be available:

 

I'll be listing everything gradually this week over in my Big Cartel shop, and the listings will be available to purchase from 10am (UK time) this Sunday, 9th June. 

P.S. I've decided to keep my Big Cartel shop just for occasional sample sales, so after this week if you're looking for my printable PDF sewing patterns you'll only find them in my Etsy shop.

New in My Shop: Folk Floral Hoop Art Tutorial & Embroidery Pattern

I'm on a roll with adding new stuff to my shop this week, first the trio of felt flower patterns and now some floral wall art inspired by folk art designs:

My new printable PDF pattern includes two versions of this flower design: a step-by-step tutorial for sewing the felt applique version (complete with full-size templates, of course!), and an embroidery pattern for stitching the embroidered version.

I've actually included two versions of the embroidery pattern - the full design I stitched and a simpler one, too, so you can go for a less detailed look or add your own details with your favourite stitches. And, of course, there are reversed versions included in case you need them for your fave transfer method.

The designs both fit inside five inch embroidery hoops and would look lovely hanging on the wall to add some summer loveliness to your space. The embroidery pattern would also look fab stitched onto something like a bag or a quilt square.

When you buy any patterns from my shop you can of course make lots of things for yourself and to give as gifts, but you can also sell the finished items at craft fairs or in your Etsy shop, etc, as long as you credit me as the designer.

You can buy my Folk Floral PDF pattern from my shop - it'll be available to download immediately after your payment goes through! Shop before May 31st to get this design at the bargain launch price. 

 

P.S. I actually shared a version of this tutorial with my newsletter subscribers last year. Subscribe to my newsletter for all the latest updates from me and my shop and to never miss out on my free projects!

New in My Shop: Snow Globe and Angel Felt Ornaments & Embroidery Patterns

I've added two of my Christmas patterns to my shop this week!

My snow globes tutorial includes templates and step by step instructions for sewing felt snow globe ornaments, a snow globe embroidery pattern, and instructions for using the embroidery pattern to make an embroidered ornament.

 

 

 
My angels tutorial includes templates and step by step instructions for sewing two styles of felt angel ornaments, an angel embroidery pattern, and a tutorial for making angel Christmas cards.

 

 

 

When you buy any patterns from my shop you can of course make lots of things for yourself and to give as gifts, but you can also sell the finished items at craft fairs or in your Etsy shop, etc, as long as you credit me as the designer.

Buy the printable PDF patterns from my shop and the patterns will be available to download immediately! Shop before May 16th (for the angels) or May 17th (for the snow globes) to grab your fave project at the bargain launch price.

P.S. I've got lots more patterns in progress at the moment - follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my newsletter for all the latest updates from me and my shop.

 

Daffodils and Narcissi: Spring Flower Embroidery Patterns

February's free project for my pattern newsletter subscribers? A pair of little floral embroidery patterns!

These sweet, easy-to-stitch little flowers are designed to be framed in 4 inch embroidery hoops but they'd also be great for embellishing all kinds of spring projects.

There's a large, solo daffodil...

 

 

... and a trio of narcissi (or daffs, I guess, if you stitched them with yellow thread instead of white!)

 

 

Stitch your fave, or embroider them both as a pair! They'd make lovely gifts for Mother's Day or Easter.

I'm running a little behind with my newsletter freebies at the mo, as you may have noticed, but I'm gradually getting caught up! The emails might land in your inbox at slightly unexpected times but you'll still get a free project for each month this year.

I'll be sending out these two patterns to subscribers later today, but don't worry if you're not already subscribed: you'll immediately get sent the current project when you sign up, and I always include a link to the previous project when I send out a new newsletter. There'll be lots more crafty goodness on the way soon, too!

Click here for more information about my newsletters and to subscribe!

Click here to visit my tutorial archive for lots more free patterns, including more embroidery patterns and lots of ideas for spring craft projects.

Floral Wreath Hoop Art Pattern

January's free project for my monthly pattern newsletter subcribers is a floral wreath inspired by my dreams of spring:

I've included two versions of this project: you can use the templates to create the felt version (above), or use the embroidery pattern to stitch the whole design (below).

The pattern is designed to be displayed in a 7 inch embroidery hoop, but it would also look lovely as part of bigger projects - e.g. embellishing a bag, or as the central panel in a quilted cushion cover.

As you can see, I've also included two text options for the space inside the wreath: Go Outside and Get Inspired, and Stay Inside and Make Stuff. You could make both versions to display as a pair, or just choose your fave!

The wreath would also look fab on its own, I think, or you could add your own text. This would also be a great design to personalise to celebrate a new baby, a wedding, an anniversary, etc. And course you could also use the felt flowers and leaves in smaller groupings to decorate other projects. Sooo many crafty possibilities!

I'm running a little behind with my pattern newsletter projects at the moment but please bear with me: you'll still recieve a free project for every month this year and there'll be a bonus project at some point this year, too! I have some really fun makes planned for you guys and I hope you'll consider them worth the wait.

Click here for more information about my newsletters and to subscribe!

Click here to visit my tutorial archive for lots more free patterns, including lots of floral projects!

Creating Patchwork Cross Stitch from Leftover Embroidery Threads

Look what I finished!!

I started this patchwork cross stitch project way back in 2014, as a way to make use of those scrappy bits of leftover embroidery thread (floss) which aren't quite big enough to be worth keeping and winding back on the bobbin but which still have a few stitches left in them.

I saved up the threads in a compartment in my embroidery thread storage box, then would sit and do a whole batch of stitching in one evening - slowly building up the patchwork design in blocks of colour. It was a super relaxing process!

 

As I wrote when I blogged about this project last year, "I guess I could add a block at a time, each time I have a piece of leftover thread, but I quite like spending a few relaxing hours working on this from time to time. Plus, adding a bunch of colours at once helps me make the randomness of this project more of a controlled randomness - I can spread out the colours more easily, and get a more pleasing mix of tones and shapes than I think I would end up with if I added a block each time I had a scrap of thread to use up.

I like the randomness of this project and how the colour palette (and the speed at which it's growing) is entirely dictated by what other projects I'm working on, and the luck of what size thread scraps I'm left with... but I also want it to be something I love the look of when it's finished!"

To read more about how this piece has developed, click here to read all about how the project has progressed over the years and see lots of in-progress photos.

I'm really pleased with how the finished piece has turned out - someone pointed out that it looks like a tiny quilt, and it totally does! It's about 6 inches (15 cm) square and absolutely jam-packed with colour. Loads of happy hours of stitching have gone into it, but it also represents even more hours of stitching as, of course, these are all just the leftovers from other projects!

And - to think! - all those threads would otherwise have just gone to waste. It's going to be really hard breaking the habit of keeping my scrappy bits of thread now... maybe I'm going to need to start another leftovers-themed project? Hmm...

Want to make your own patchwork design from leftover threads? Simple! Just start keeping your own leftover threads, stitch them in blocks and just keep on going until you've slooooowly filled up a whole square with colour.

A patchwork design like this is also a great way to use up a whole bunch of embroidery threads from your stash, you don't specifically need to be using leftover threads. Just have fun playing around with colour combinations and shapes!

Last year several people asked me for the pattern for this design, which isn't really something I can properly share as I've used to many random colours making this piece. BUT, I have drawn out a chart of how my design ended up, in case you like how the arrangement of blocks look and fancy replicating it. You can use my photos as guide when picking colours and/or use felt tips or coloured pencils to colour in your printed chart to help guide your stitching.

Click here to view the chart in a new window or tab, make sure you're viewing it full size then print.

P.S. For even more scrappy goodness, check out my Patchwork Mini Squares blanket, knitted from yarn left over from many years worth of knitting projects.

Design Dilemmas and the Magic of Social Media Feedback

What do you do with designs that go nowhere?

Last spring I started work on a bunch of ideas for possible projects to celebrate the Royal Wedding. I stitched and shared a simple cross stitch sampler pattern and put lots of work into this design for a cute embroidery pattern...

... but then I ran out of time and it never got made and now I'm not sure what to do with it.

Over the years I've worked on a LOT of sketches, doodles, prototypes and project ideas that never turned into anything. This is just part of the creative process! I usually squirrel them away for the future because you never know what might end up being useful as source material for another project, or what might end up working after all when you revisit it with fresh eyes in the future.

This particular design, however, was so specific that I was convinced that it wouldn't possibly ever be remotely reusable. But I also really liked how it had turned out thus far and didn't want to just chuck it away (and have, as a result, wasted all that work).

So, after finding the pattern in a pile of paperwork this weekend, I posted this pic on Instagram and Facebook and asked everyone: "what the heck could I or should I do with this??? "Should I take the time to neaten it up a bit and share it on my blog in case there are some Harry & Meghan fans out there who'd like to (very belatedly) stitch themselves a wedding souvenir? Or just recycle it??"

And, thank goodness for the magic of getting feedback via social media, because everyone immediately had such great ideas.

Some people suggested sharing it to celebrate their upcoming anniversary, and lots of people suggested updating the pattern slightly so it could celebrate Meghan and Harry's baby, which is due this spring (I had totally forgotten that they're expecting a baby!). This could totally work for the royal baby!

Other people suggested doing something just with the lion and unicorn on their own (maybe even adapting the whole design to be a customisable nursery sampler)... which I had somehow not thought of as a possibility??? I do love those little guys, though, they're just so cheerful and sweet and the unicorn took me absolutely ages to draw (because I am the world's worst person at drawing horses). I'm picturing the lion holding birthday balloons, maybe? Or the unicorn standing next to an awesome rainbow birthday cake? Something happy and fun and colourful, anyway.

What do you guys think? I'd love to hear which of these suggestions you like, and if you have any more ideas for ways I could revisit this design and (finally) turn it into a finished project. 

UPDATE: this embroidery pattern is now finished and available in my shop!