Brooch Swap Inspiration

Sign ups for the brooch swap are now closed, WOW, thanks everyone! There's been an amazing response and there are a whopping 86 Brooch swappers joining in for our swap.We have sign ups from around the world too so this is truly an international swap. Its going to be great!

You will receive your swap partner details this week, just as soon as I can get my head around it all, and send out 86 individual emails! The swap is a secret swap which means you will send to one person, and receive a brooch from another.

In the meantime please come and join our Flower Press Brooch Swap Flickr Group. Thank you to the  people who have already uploaded inspiration mosaics. These are full of inspiring handmade brooches and other inspiration pics. Mosaics are a great way to share your tastes and likes with your swapper and to kick start your making. They are simple to make too with the Big Huge Labs online mosaic maker. There is also a discussion thread within our group to share ideas and resources. Flickr also has a dedicated Brooches group which makes interesting browsing.

I found the brooches above with a quick search through Flickr using the tags brooch and handmade. Click on the photo to see the credits. You could also take a picture of your favourite brooches to share.

For those of you who don't have a Flickr account why not take the plunge. You don't have to share all your photos and a basic account is free. Flickr is a great way to share your interests and get feedback on your work.

mothers day

I had a lovely Mothers day yesterday, with beautiful handmade cards from all my lovelies, including this flower canvas from Mr J, optical illusion card from Mr D and tulip cutout from Miss A. Aren't they amazing. I love those three so very much and I really feel blessed to have them in my life (cue tears).

Apart from breakfast in bed, I got these lovely Glasshouse candles, some Belle Fleur chocs (see mothers day 2010!) and some design magazines. Miss A is doing a cafe design for her Food Tech assignment and the theme she's chosen is Alice in Wonderland. For dinner she practiced her Red Queen Risotto recipe on me, complete with beetroot heart.

Brooch Swap sign ups close tomorrow. Thanks you all for your wonderful enthusiasm - we have over 70 participants from around the world joining in! There are a few people who haven't given me their address details. Please check your email, in most cases I've emailled or left comments on your blogs but some people have left no contact details at all.  I don't want to leave people out and I've done as much as I can to make contact. Please check in so I can add you to the list, tomorrow is the last day. If you can't access my email details above leave your email address in the comments for me and I'll be in touch.

Guest Post - Kylie Hunt's brooch tutorial

Hello there :) My name’s Kylie and I have a blog called 3 Sheets. I’ve just finished making my swap piece for the Great Flower Press Brooch Swap (I know, I’m sorry! But I’d already three-quarters finished it when Susie announced the swap.)

Anyway, Susie’s enacted appropriate girly-swot punishment for finishing so quickly and asked for a tutorial on how to make an embroidered brooch. I’m a self-taught embroiderer so there will be no technical terms I’m afraid… when in doubt refer to photo and I’m sure you’ll work it out ;)

1. Embroider your chosen design or choose a favourite fabric motif and embroider this in your colours of choice. If you’re using a patterned fabric, make sure you embroider a border around the motif so that it stands out from the background.

2. Remove your embroidered design from the hoop and cut around the fabric, allowing a generous border of at least 2cms. Turn the design over to the wrong side and cut out some thick felt vaguely in the shape of the motif. This need not be exact to the shape – it’s just for structural integrity ;)

3. If you have a circle motif, you can simply thread cotton in a loose long-stitch and draw-string the fabric border tightly around your motif. If your motif shape is irregular (like this one) tack the fabric in and sew to the felt shape. I usually start by folding in the corners and tidying up the loose bits as best I can after that. When done, the front of your embroidery should show none of the fabric.

4. Next, prepare your brooch backing by cutting out the shape in felt. Do this by cutting from the front where you can see every curve, bend and angle – it needs to be exactly right. Once you have the shape, you might need to trim a couple of millimetres around the circumference so that it is exactly the same as the front piece in size and shape.

5. Attach your backing fabric in the same way as Step 3. I always use invisible thread for this part so that if I do thread through to the fabric it’s not the end of the world ;) Once this is done, attach the brooch clasp.

6. The last step is to sew the front piece to your backing. I tend to use invisible thread for this too, again, to avoid dodgy stitchery exposure.

And this is the finished brooch. Hope this all makes sense. Thanks again, Susie, for hosting this brooch swap – fabulous idea :)

p.s. Thank you so much Kylie! Kylie was one of the first people I interviewed for my Show and Tell series. I fell in love with her wonderful brooches back then and featured this image showing a collection of her pieces. In fact they hleped inspire this swap! Check out more of Kylie's beautiful work on her 3Sheets blog and in her shop.