DIY brooches

A symbol of vintage, understated chic and bohemianism, the brooch has long been an exquisite piece of jewelry, made using a variety of materials, from gold and precious stones to wire and wood. To ensure that you, our readers, always remain on trend, we have prepared for you some of the most stylish ideas from the most affordable materials that you will probably find in your handicraft “chest”. All you need to buy are special fastening pins for brooches.

DIY beaded brooch

According to legend, Phoenician merchants, carrying natural soda from Africa across the Mediterranean Sea, landed for the night and began cooking over a fire. Not having a single stone nearby, they came up with nothing better than to sprinkle a little soda around the fire, and the next morning they marveled as they passed a transparent stone of extraordinary beauty from hand to hand. This is how glass appeared, from which they subsequently began to make beads of various sizes, even the tiniest ones - beads, from the Arabic “busra” - “fake pearls”.

Nowadays, there are a huge variety of beads, differing from each other in shapes, colors and sizes. Beadwork is quite popular: some are content with small decorative elements made from beads, while others manage to create entire masterpieces and even paintings and mosaics from it.

Of course, we take into account that most of you do not weave beads often, so we offer the most simple brooch options, but no less interesting.

1. Draw a life-size outline of your brooch on paper - this will be your pattern.
2. Take a small piece of interlining or similar non-woven material (for example, it is often used in packaging flower bouquets) and trace your template on it with a ballpoint pen or marker. 
3. Glue a piece of non-woven fabric onto a thick base, such as a piece of felt, without cutting out the design along the outline. Ideally, the color of this base should match the color of the beads. 
4. Embroider the outline of the brooch with beads, placing 2-3 beads on the needle using a stem stitch. Try to attach the beads to each other as tightly as possible so that there are no gaps between the beads.
5. If you want the brooch to be voluminous, then you can glue or sew an additional “floor” of felt onto some elements inside and embroider on it.
6. Fill the felt tightly with beads so that this base is not visible. To work the edges, you can use smaller beads of the same color.
7. Carefully cut out your brooch along the contour without damaging the thread.
8. Take a piece of regular cardboard or thick paper and trace your brooch. Stepping back a couple of millimeters from the edge, repeat the outline drawing inside this template and cut along it. You should end up with a pattern for your brooch in a slightly smaller size. Glue it to the back of your embroidery.
9. Glue the accessories - a brooch pin.
10. Glue a piece of leather on top of the cardboard (faux leatherette can be used), making small slots in it for a pin.
11. Trim the leather along the contour of the brooch, leaving a couple of mm for the hem.
12. Sew the leather along the contour of the brooch, covering the felt, with a “closure” seam.

In this way you can embroider a brooch of any shape with beads. The more types and sizes of beads you use in your work, the more interesting the finished product will be.

DIY fabric brooch

It’s not for nothing that real needlewomen are always guided by the phrase “it will come in handy around the house”: from unnecessary scraps of fabric you can create a unique, elegant and stylish decoration, combining textures, colors and sizes.

The principle of making a fabric brooch is the same as when using beads: the necessary parts are sewn or carefully glued onto a dense base, decorated with beads or ribbons, leather, wood, or whatever! And on the back side, a carbchon, a special pin for a brooch, is attached to thick cardboard, which is hidden from prying eyes behind a piece of artificial leather.

A brooch made of fabric may look more voluminous than one made of beads, because some elements can be attached to the base only on one side, for example, like the wings of this butterfly. 

By the way, an interesting and unusual idea would be to fold thin fabric like origami paper figures and secure the edges so that they do not unravel. Of course, natural fabrics that hold their shape well are more suitable for such decoration. 

The fabric, the edges of which crocheted.

DIY satin ribbon brooch

Bright, motley, multi-colored... Nowadays, it is rare to see a girl with ribbons woven into her braids, young mothers Due to the eternal lack of time, they have long preferred to buy their children ready-made bows with an elastic band. But remember our childhood - how beautiful and mesmerizing ribbons made of organza and satin were!.. Even though their use is not quite the same as before, there will definitely be a place for such ribbons in needlework. For example, for sewing a fashionable brooch on the lapel of a formal jacket to slightly dilute your everyday business look.

The principle of sewing is the same as when making a brooch from other materials described above, only, unlike using scraps, you can not only sew from ribbon, but also embroider small miniatures on a material that you can take as a basis, as in the case of a beaded brooch.

DIY felt brooch

If in previous versions we used felt as the basis for the brooch, then why not leave it as an independent material? In addition, felt is perhaps the favorite material among needlewomen - it folds easily, holds its shape well, and does not crumble, which even allows you to leave the edges of the product untreated.

In addition, felt looks quite unusual and goes well with the simplest details, such as coarse twine and large seams.

DIY leather brooches

Leather is a stylish material; it is unlikely to ever go out of fashion. In addition, leather products are durable, and when they become slightly worn over time, they only become more attractive.

If artificial leather can be used as a fabric (it can be either very dense or thin, it is very easy to fold), then the edges of pieces of natural leather can simply be burned with a lighter: they will acquire not only a neat appearance, but also a beautiful shade. Make decorative elements and connect them together using regular super glue, attaching the finished brooch to the base with a pin.

Leather, like felt, combines very beautifully with natural materials: coarse fabric, burlap, wood and even acorns. Why not an idea for a new brooch?