How-To: 3-D Pins or Brooches from Fabric Motifs

I picked up a few yards of this cotton fabric a while back now.  It’s pretty bold, but I love it – but what should I do with it?

What if I made a 3-D pin or brooch from one of the butterflies that I could wear, or pin to the bag?  It would have to be stiffened somehow, which then of course means I want to embroider it…

To begin, we need to interface the back of the fabric with a heavy-weight interfacing.  I find it’s
easiest to cut a square of fabric out with the motif in the center, rather than trying to fussy cut
the fabric.

Now fuse a lightweight fusible webbing (I’m using Heat N Bond Lite for this) onto the wrong side of the backing fabric, according to the webbing package directions.  Fuse the backing fabric and the front fabric motif together.

Let cool and then cut out the motif:

We need to finish the edges, so I’m using a satin stitch (a tightly-packed zig-zag) around the edges.   I’d recommend doing some test stitches first, just to make sure you’ve got the right stitch width and density:

Here’s the butterfly with the satin stitch all completed around the edges & accent lines around the inner wings:

But I don’t think it’s quite done – I think a little more stitching would be good…

I’ve used a hot pink metallic thread (remember to go much slower than normal when you’re working with metallics) to stitch over some of the accent lines on the wing.
Hand-stitch a safety pin or brooch back to the wrong side of the pin.  Gently bend the wings to add some dimension (you can also use fabric stiffener, but I don’t think this one really needs it).

Wear and enjoy!

all images: © C Findlay-Harder

Related posts:

1. Printing & Transferring Images On Fabric
2. Tutorial of the Day: Round Yo-yos
3. How-To: Sew an Easy Dog Bandanna
4. The DIY Baby – Receiving Blankets
5. How To Repair Blue Jeans