New Flower Brooch Tutorial: Sew Some Felt Peonies!

Wanna sew some pretty felt peony brooches?

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These layered felt flower brooches would look really lovely pinned to your jacket or cardi this summer. You can make them in one or two shades of peony pink, or just pick your fave colours or one that matches your favourite outfit.

 

The flowers would also look great on a headband, or you could make a few of them (maybe printing out the templates at different sizes?) and add them to a wreath.

They're quite easy to make, but you do have a few layers of felt to cut out. I think they're actually a perfect project to try if you feel your cutting skills need a bit of practice. It doesn't matter if peony petals are a bit wobbly, does it? However messily you cut out these layers the finished flowers will still look great.

Remember I always recommend investing in a pair of embroidery scissors to help you with cutting small or fiddly felt shapes - the small, narrow blades make it so much easier than using standard sewing scissors.

As well as the peony brooches tutorial, new subscribers to my newsletter will also receive a stack of books embroidery pattern and a tutorial for making a fun felt swan mask (I'll share some snaps of that tomorrow!).

Plus, if you sign up to to pattern segment of my newsletter you'll get a new free project in your inbox for every month you're signed up! Sometimes I don't quite manage the "monthly" part of the schedule, but I always get caught up in the end :)

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Click here to visit my tutorial archive for lots more free embroidery patterns and other crafty projects.

Crafting With Felt Flowers: Felt Brooches Tutorial

Add a pop of colour to any outfit with a felt flower brooch! 

This week I'm sharing four easy ideas for using the templates from my April Felt Flowers Wreath tutorial, kicking off with some pretty flower brooches.

 

This tutorial was originally designed for The Village Haberdashery's blog, using felt and other craft supplies from their shop.

You will need:

- The flower templates from April's wreath tutorial
- Felt in assorted colours
- Matching sewing thread
- Contrasting or coordinating embroidery thread
- One button per flower
- Brooch clasps
- Sewing needles and pins
- Sewing scissors or embroidery scissors (embroidery scissors are great for cutting out detailed felt shapes!)

 

To make the brooches: 

Use the flower templates, mixing and matching shapes to create layered flowers. I used two colours but you could use as many as you like. Top each flower with a small circle cut using template H.

Sew the layers together with a small X of two stitches, using sewing thread to match the felt (or the buttons you’ll be adding later).

Then use half strands of embroidery thread (so, for six-stranded thread just use three strands) to decorate the flowers. Sew single stitches along the inner petals, starting each stitch from under the central felt circle. Use a contrasting or coordinating colour for this - I used dark pink.

Add a button to the centre of each flower, sewing them securely in position with a double thickness of matching sewing thread.

Use the templates to cut a backing circle for each brooch, small enough to fit within the largest flower shape. I cut these from purple felt but any colour will do as it won’t be visible when worn.

Position a brooch clasp just above the centre of each circle, sewing them in place with a double thickness of matching sewing thread.

Place the circles on the backs of the flowers, as shown. Sew them into position with whip stitch and matching sewing thread, sewing into the layers of felt but not through them – so the circles are secured but the stitching isn’t visible at the front of the brooch.

 

  
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!

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Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

New in My Shop: Romantic Felt Flower Headbands Tutorial

The latest printable PDF sewing pattern in my shop is all about flowers!

My Romantic Flowers tutorial includes step by step instructions for sewing pretty felt flower headbands...

... and how to turn the design into a brooch.

There are also templates and instructions for sewing a large headband or floral crown featuring three of the flowers for some serious flower power this summer.

These flowers would be lovely to wear year-round or to summer parties - why not make a flower to match your favourite dress?

They'd also be great for making accessories for a wedding: the large headband for the bride, single flower hairbands for the bridesmaids, and flower brooches worn on the groomsman's lapels.

Oh, and the PDF includes a flower embroidery pattern, too! Yay!

 

Remember: 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.

Click here to buy my Romantic Flowers PDF from my shop! The file will be available to download immediately after purchase. Shop before June 10th to get this design at the launch price.

P.S. A couple of the samples I stitched for this pattern will be available in my sample sale this weekend! 

Don't want to miss out on things like sample sales and new patterns? Subscribe to my newsletter for shop updates and/or a monthly free project!

Primrose Brooches in Sewing World

I'm delighted to report that my primrose brooches have been featured in the April issue of Sewing World magazine (out now).

It's always so nice seeing my designs in the press!

I've actually reduced the price of the primrose brooches since the magazine contacted me about featuring them. The single primrose brooches are now just £7.50 each...

 ... and the primrose trio brooches are just £12 each. Hurrah!

UPDATE: My primrose design is now available as a sewing pattern! Visit my shop to see all my printable PDF patterns

Cherry Blossoms and Forget-Me-Nots

I added a couple of new felt flower brooches to my Etsy shop this week. Each brooch features a mini "bouquet" of flowers - all hand cut and hand stitched (as always!) with seed bead centres.

Pink cherry blossoms:

And blue forget-me-nots:

You can find them in the felt flower brooches section of my Etsy shop.

Pink Flowers

I added lots of pretty pink flowers to my shops over the weekend...


... a little hairclip, some headbands, and small & large brooches:


The large brooches are definitely my favourite - all those layers! Yum.

All the flowers are currently available over in my Etsy shop, and the headbands and large brooches are also available in my Folksy shop.

Turquoise and Plum

New in my shops this week: lots of pretty felt flowers!

The flowers are made from thick, textured needle felt, and embellished with a cluster of seed beads in the centre. Choose from light turquoise with sparkly silver seed beads or rich plum/magenta with glossy black beads.


The flowers are available as brooches in two sizes...

... and as headbands:


You can find them in my Etsy shop and my Folksy shop.

Giveaway Winner: Felt Circles

The lucky winner of all those tiny felt circles is...

bettyoctopus, who said... "Oh wow, count me in! I have a million projects I could use those for!"

Thanks to everyone who left a comment :)


In other news, I found some forgotten (and supposedly sold out) pink poppy brooches tucked away in a box this week. They're now back in my shops while stocks last, and only £5 each. Hurrah! They're available from my Etsy, Folksy and DaWanda shops.

UPDATE: My poppy design is now available as a sewing pattern! Visit my shop to see all my printable PDF patterns

Red, White & Turquoise

These are a couple of custom flower brooches I made last month - now safely delivered to a happy customer.


I usually make these in lilac and purple with a turquoise button in the centre... they look so different in the custom colours!

I've written before about the joys of custom orders but honestly it's just so much fun re-working things in custom colours, especially when you know they're destined for a special occasion :)

Texture + Teapots

My works-in-progress are, er, progressing!

Textured corsages are being beaded...


... and pink & purple teapot badges are now available from my Etsy and Folksy shops.

Layered Flowers

New in my Etsy shop - a quartet of layered felt flower brooches:


All the flowers are made up of lots of individual hand-cut petals, sewn together to make large corsages and topped with a cluster of seed beads. The larger flowers are a massive 5 inches (12.5 cms) across.

The orange and purple flowers are made from synthetic craft felt...


... and the pink and turquoise flowers are made from a couple of sheets of super thick handmade felt I bought last year. I didn't buy much of the handmade felt, so there's only one of each flower available.

The texture of the felt is gorgeous, and it creates a completely different look from the standard craft felt.


My favourite is definitely the turquoise flower - I'm really pleased with how nice the silver beads look against the bright turquoise blue.


Turquoise is one of my favourite colours. I probably use it too often but it's so hard not to be drawn to the colours I love when crafting and buying supplies!

UPDATE: My large felt flower design is now available as a sewing pattern! Visit my shop to see all my printable PDF patterns: