Wednesday, 31 July 2013

How To: Felt Iced Biscuit Brooches

The second tutorial this week is how to make felt iced ring biscuit (cookie) brooches. These are a fun, nostalgic gift for fans of tea & biscuits, or anyone who had these biscuits at their childhood birthday parties.


To make each biscuit brooch, you will need:

- the template sheet provided at the bottom of this post
- felt in your chosen colours (two colours per biscuit)
- biscuit-coloured felt
- matching sewing threads
- a brooch clasp or safety pin
- a needle and pins
- embroidery scissors


1. Use the template provided to cut out one "icing" piece and one "biscuit" piece.


2. Cut a straight edge along a piece of felt in your second colour. Use the embroidery scissors to snip out little triangles a short distance apart along the straight edge, so the felt looks like this:


Then carefully cut along the edge of the felt, as pictured, to create a narrow zig-zagging piece of felt a few mms wide.


3. Snip the long felt piece you've just cut out into sections, and arrange them on the "icing" biscuit shape. If you need to, repeat step 2 to create extra zig-zag strips.


Using embroidery scissors (which have small, sharp blades that are perfect for cutting out small/fiddly shapes) and cutting slowly will help improve the neatness of your felt strips. But if you have real trouble cutting out these narrow felt pieces, you can always use embroidery thread (floss) in the next step and sew the zig-zag pattern onto the felt with backstitch.

4. Use matching thread and small running stitches to carefully sew the zig-zag pieces in place. Take care not to pull the strips as you might tear the felt.


5. Turn the front of the biscuit over, and trim the overhanging pieces of felt.


The front of your felt biscuit should now look something like this:


6. Turn over the backing "biscuit" piece of felt and add a brooch clasp or safety pin. If you're adding a brooch clasp (as pictured) use a double-thickness of matching sewing thread to secure the clasp.

 
If you're using a safety pin, use matching thread to sew a small piece of felt over the fixed bar of the pin, holding it in place.


7. Then place the front and back of the brooch together, and sew around the edges with whip stitch. You can use thread to match the main icing colour for this but I prefer to use cream thread (to match the pale biscuit back). Finish your stitching neatly at the back.


These biscuits also make cute Christmas ornaments - just add a loop of narrow ribbon to the "wrong" side of one of the biscuit shapes in step 6 instead of adding a clasp. The biscuit design would also look great appliqued on felt gifts like purses, or lavender sachets.


Remember not to give these brooches to / leave them within reach of any small children who may mistake them for actual food!

Click here to view the template sheet in another window/tab, and print it at 100%.



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

Enjoyed this free tutorial? Buy me a "coffee" and help support my blog!

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Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Buy Three Months of Blog Ads, Get 25% Off

Today I'm busy sewing, editing photos and drawing & scanning templates prepping for lots of fun free tutorials coming your way over the next few weeks and months.

I just wanted to do a quick post to let you guys know that I now offer a discount if you buy 3 months of ad space on my blog at once (90 days instead of the usual 30).

Click here for more info & to buy an ad. Add the ad you're interested in to the cart, proceed to checkout, then change the quantity to 3 and enter the promo code 90DAYS and you'll get a 25% discount off the total ad price.

And because it feels weird to have a blog post without a picture in it, here's one of the things in today's Flash Sale - a half price red poppy headband :)

Monday, 29 July 2013

How To: Felt Lucky Pants / Underpants / Knickers Badge

I've got three little felt tutorials to share with you guys this week... starting with today's project: making a lucky pair of felt underpants!


These cute felt brooches / badges are quick and easy to sew, and they make fun, silly gifts for people about to sit exams or anything else where they need a bit of extra luck.


To make one of these badges you will need...

- the template sheet at the bottom of this post
- felt in three bright colours
- mini star sequins (approx 6mm)
- matching sewing threads
- a needle & a pin
- sewing scissors (embroidery scissors are ideal for cutting out small shapes)
- a brooch clasp or safety pin


1. Use the template provided to cut out one pants shape (from colour #1), and one oval shape (colour #2) - pinning or holding the paper pattern piece to the felt as you cut around it.

When I used to make these brooches for sale in my Etsy shop (many years ago!), I cut out the oval shapes by hand (which is why the finished brooches in the photos are all slightly different shapes), but you definitely get a neater finish with a template!

2. Place the pants shape in the centre of the oval, and use running stitch and matching sewing thread to sew it in position.


3. Pin or hold the oval shape on another piece of felt (colour #3) and cut around it, leaving a small border of the third colour around the oval. Then use the piece you've just cut out as a template to cut a second matching shape from the same colour.

 

4. Use matching thread and running stitch to sew the oval onto one of the new pieces.

 

5. Then decorate the pants with a trio of small star-shaped sequins, sewing each sequin in place with 5 stitches. You can use thread to match the sequins (e.g. I used white to "match" the silver sequins I used for this brooch) or to match the colour of the pants.

 
If you can't find any small star sequins, you could use one larger star instead.

6. Turn over the remaining felt shape, and sew a brooch clasp or safety pin to the back. If you're adding a brooch clasp (as pictured) use a double-thickness of matching sewing thread to secure the clasp.


If you're using a safety pin, use matching thread to sew a small piece of felt over the fixed bar of the pin, holding it in place.


7. Place the front and back of the brooch together, and sew around the edge with running stitch and matching sewing thread (colour #3) - sewing flush with the edge of the central oval. Finish your stitching neatly at the back.

 

Here's some I made earlier! :)


Click here to view the template sheet in another window/tab, and print it at 100%.


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 few photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my tutorial on your site. Thanks!

Enjoyed this free tutorial? Buy me a "coffee" and help support my blog!

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

Sunday, 28 July 2013

Weekend Making

This weekend I've been continuing to make & finish little hats for The Big Knit...


...lots of yarn ends have been woven in & trimmed!


I've also been working on some tutorials (and editing lots of tutorial photos, yawn)...


... and sewing cherry blossoms, forget-me-nots and owls.


Remember, all this week I'm having special FLASH sales each day. Today's offers are Sunflower Headbands for £1.50, White Cherry Blossom Brooches for £5 (half price!) and Tea Rosette Brooches for £2.50 each or £9 for a set of 4.


You can check out the offers each day HERE (Etsy) or HERE (Big Cartel).

Friday, 26 July 2013

Felt Flowers & A Flash Sale

Remember that long list of crafty projects I had in progress? Well, today I'm trying to get a few things ticked off the list! I finished the swan mask and the owl masks, and now I'm making a start on sewing these forget-me-not and cherry blossom brooches:


I've also added a couple of items to my sale sections...

... the last Auricula Trio brooch...


.... and the last coal tit ornament.


Pssst! I'm going to have a fun week of flash sales, starting tomorrow.

Each day I'll be reducing a few designs in my Big Cartel & Etsy shops to a super low price for that day only ... I'll be announcing the items each day on my Facebook page & I'll also Tweet the links but you can always just visit the shops each day to see the bargains on offer :)

Thursday, 25 July 2013

New Stuff in My Shop!

Amazingly, after blogging yesterday about how I needed to take some new product photos and get lots of things added to my shop... I have actually taken some new product photos and added lots of new things to my shop! Such efficiency.

There are some new cherry blossom headbands - sweet felt flowers & leaves with ribbon ties. Perfect for summer parties, these come in white & peach...


... and pink:


I've also listed a white & peach version of my cherry blossom trio brooch:


Then there's a whole bunch of bits and pieces I've sewn as samples for tutorials... which now all need a good home!

There are Christmas trees...


... and snowmen...


... and angels...



... and owls


It's a bit weird adding Christmas ornaments to my shop in July (especially when it's such hot and sunny weather!) but never mind :)

I've got a couple of larger items which I need to check postage prices for, but in the meantime you can find all the new additions HERE.

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

This Week I have mostly been Knitting.... Little Hats

My "just for fun" craft project of the moment involves using up some leftover yarn in my stash.

I've been knitting a few mini moss stitch squares and also making lots of little hats for The Big Knit:


As you can see, I've finished some already...


...but others need sewing together, their ends weaving in & their pompoms added... oh, and I've got a bit more yarn waiting to be knitted, too.


See those cute mini multi-coloured pompoms? My mum made them several years ago (way back in 2006 I think) when I knitted lots and lots of mini hats while I had the flu.

I knitted the hats and she made mini pompoms to match (teamwork!). She made a few too many and they were just too cute to throw away... but then I forgot all about them! Oops. I'm glad I found them while having a clearout earlier this year, so they can finally be put to the use they were made for.

My work to do list has been a bit dull this week - stuff like replying to emails and doing admin. All very important stuff, but not very blog-friendly. I've also been editing lots of photos for the new tutorials I'm working on. Photo editing is such a boring job but I'm really excited about sharing all these projects with you guys over the next few months!

I've also got some more photos to take and edit, as I've got a whole bunch of things that need to be added to my shop. There are a few new things, and lots of bits and pieces I've made for previous tutorials.


If you fancy giving some of that lot a new home, keep an eye on my blog... I'll write a post with photos & shop links when everything's been listed :)

Monday, 22 July 2013

A Finished Flock of Felt Birds

Over the weekend I finished all these felt bird brooches...


... you can find them in my shop, here. I've still got some birdies (bluetits and snowy owls) left to sew, but it's great to have this batch finished and out of my "work in progress" box.

There's rarely anything good on the telly when I sit down to do some sewing in the afternoons, so I usually sew while working my way through a DVD box set. Recently I've been re-watching lots of episodes of Doctor Who & Community, watching crime dramas with my mum and taking a trip down memory lane with some nostalgic VHS-viewing (so much fun!)


UPDATE: My robin and greenfinch designs are now available as sewing patterns, and I've got lots more birdies coming soon! Visit my shop to see all my printable PDF patterns: