Monthly Make - January 2013

Many times I have recieved a compliment about my work followed by .... "...but what would I do with those beads?......"  So, I have decided to start a new monthly blog called the Monthly Make.  In  this I will challenge myself to find a way of using my beads .... This challenge will not include using my beads for jewellery but other ways in which my beads can be used!

Ok, so here goes ........

Felt Flower Brooches!

1.  Make yourself a card template in the shape of the petal that you would like. As it is coming up to Valentines day I decided to make a heart shaped petal but you could have round, oval, triangular or something more elaborate.  There are many, many options.  I also made a large and a small template for different sized petals. Then, using your templates cut out 5 large petals and 3 small petals (or as many as you would like).

2.  This is where you can let your creativity flow and decorate the edges of your petals, add sequins ... embroider flowers, make them as pretty as you like or just leave them plain and simple.  Both can be equally as effective!  I like to stitch around the outside of my petals in a contrasting colour.
 

  

3.  Once your petals are ready, it is time to construct the flower.  This bit can be a little fiddly .... or it may just be me!  You are trying to achieve a little pucker when you gather all the petals together.  The way I do this is to do a running stitch through the base of each petal and then carefully pull them all together into a bundle.  When I have them all arranged the way I want them, I securely stitch all the petals together.

 

 

 



 

4.  Repeat step 3 with the smaller petals. Then stitch these into the centre of the large flower.

 

 

 

5.  We are now in a position to decorate the centre of the flower.  I had a quick look through my bead box and found this very lonely purple lentil bead.  I like to clash my colours!  I stitched the bead into the centre of the flower.  The orientation of the bead will depend on the surface decoration.  I have used one of my implosion beads in the first photograph and I finished this off with a tiny seed bead to cover the bead hole.  I have placed the purple lentil bead on it's side so the bead hole isn't visible.

 

 

6.  Now, depending what you want to use your flowers for, you may/may not want to add a brooch pin.  I must confess that I am not a very neat sewer as you can see from the photograph below .... So, if I wasn't going to add a brooch pin I would hide this by gluing a red circle on the top using my glue gun.  If I was going to add a brooch pin I would sew it directly onto the flower.  I would then open the pin and attach a patch of felt over the back of the brooch pin.  It finishes the flower quite neatly!

 

 

  

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and if you have a go .... I would love to see your flowers!

Sarah xx
www.beadscrumptious.co.uk
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