The Crafty Retailer

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Directions for Floral Fantasy Brooch

This project will be completed in four basic steps:

Felting the flower petals, making the leaves,
bead embroidery/ embellishment, and
finally…assembly. Steps 1, 2 and 4 move along
swiftly. The third step is a great project to do
while sitting around the TV! If you are a left
brain (process oriented) human, you need to let
yourself go a bit as felt making is not an exact
science. The directions are intended to provide
technical assistance but you are encouraged to
create “outside of the box.” It might be
necessary to make some independent choices
along the way. You will have extra materials in
your kit that can be used to alter the basic
design. Have fun and do not feel too
constrained….Relax and
have a great time!

Supplies needed:
Merino wool top– about 5 gr
Velvet fabric for leaves
Pellon fusible stabilizer
6 Swarovski Top Drill Bicones
Assorted seed beads
Swarovski pearls
Beading thread
12 x 12 inch piece of bubble wrap
12 x 12 piece of toile or other netting
Olive Oil Soap solution
Plastic bottle with water/soap solution
Elastic ties
Pin Back
Two Hand Towels
I. Let’s make some Felted flower petals!

Felt is a fabric that is formed when you add warm water to wool fiber and agitate the fiber through hand pressure and
movement. A change takes place as you agitate the wool--- the fibers move around and become entangled. The
proteins in the fiber become chemically bound together and the change is a permanent one, resulting in fabric! Using
alkaline soap moves the process along by making it easier for your hands to slide over the wool, entangling more fibers.

A. Put a small dish towel down on the table. Put the bubble wrap on top the dish towel with the bubbles facing
up. Fill your squeeze bottle with cool water and add a few drops of soap to the bottle. [Note: although felting
is usually done with warm water, this project is so small that I suggest using cool water. It will slow down the
felting process and give you a bit more control as you learn. Additionally, if you use any of the silk fabric in the
process, the use of warm water would cause the wool to felt before the fibers had a chance to migrate through
the silk.]
 B. Each set of petals will be made by forming a circle of wool. Each flower consists
of at least two layers of petals. The wool is multicolored and I typically work with the
colors individually, choosing a main color for each circle as well as a secondary accent
color. Pick up the wool top with one hand and gently pull off tufts of fiber with your
other hand. If it is difficult to pull, then move your hands further apart. The wool should
separate gently and easily…no major effort should be expended!

C. Lay the wool down on the bubble wrap to form a small circle that
fans out from the center. Do not lay the wool down so thickly that it
looks like a huge cotton ball; rather, it should be about ¼ inch thick.
Add a second layer to the edge of the circle in a complementary
color. Make a slightly smaller circle for the middle layer of your
flower. If you have enough wool, make a smaller circle for the top
petal layer.

D. You might want to place some silk roving or “top” on one of your circles. The silk
will add a beautiful sheen. You will be trimming your circles later on, so don’t work too
close to the edge of the circle or the silk will be a wasted effort.

E. Cover the fiber circle with the netting and sprinkle water on the project. Press down
gently with your hands to push the fibers together. The project should be saturated but
not dripping. Gently move your hand in a circular motion to flatten down all of the
fibers.

F. Starting at the left side of the project, roll up the bubble wrap, fiber, and netting
much like you would a jell roll and use the tie to secure the roll.

G. Gently roll the jelly roll back and forth 100 times. Open the jelly roll package and
gently pull away the netting. It might stick a bit to the fibers, but do not worry. Go
ahead and separate it…you are the Boss! You will be able to see that the felting
process has started and the fibers are starting to mingle! The
fibers are starting to stick together, but your job is not done.
Roll the jelly roll a second time, this time starting the roll from
the top. Roll the package a third time, starting the roll from the
right. Finally, roll the package one last time, starting the roll
from the bottom. Felt with shrink as you roll it, so it is a good idea to roll it from all sides
in order to have uniform shrinkage.
 H. The unveiling! Are you excited? You should be…you are almost finished with this phase! Unwrap the roll and do
a “pinch test”…you should be able to lift the circle off of the bubble wrap in one piece. The fabric should feel
pretty solid, but it is still somewhat fragile. It will remain unstable until you “Full” it. The Fulling process causes
the fibers to contract and tighten, resulting in a stronger and more durable fabric. The fabric will shrink during
this process.

I. To Full the fabric, simply pick up the wet circles and rub them vigorously
against the bubble wrap for a minute or two. When you get tired of doing this simply
throw them on the table (hard enough to hear them “thwack!”) about 10 times.

J.
K. Now use the Template to cut at least 1 large and 1 medium set of flower
petals. Rub the cut edges along the top of the bubble wrap in order to soften the look.
Rinse out the flowers to get rid of the soap and leave the layers to dry a bit while you
go on to work on the leaves.

SUCCESS!

II. Now for the Leaves!

a. Cut out the leaf image from the template and trace two leaves on the plastic
covering the fabric stabilizer. Cut out the two leaf shapes and pull off plastic covering.

Take green velvet fabric and place it right side down on the second towel. Put the two
leaf shaped stabilizer pieces on the right side of the fabric. Fold the fabric over to
cover the two stabilizer pieces.
 b. Cover the fabric with the cotton scrap. Turn the iron on high heat and place it on the cotton scrap. Do not
move the iron too much---simply hold it gently on the fabric for about thirty seconds. You should be able to
see the outline of the leaf ironed onto the fabric. Turn it over and repeat. Trim away the excess fabric. You
will see a glimpse of the white stabilizer but don’t fret…it will be covered by beads shortly

III. Bead Embroidery

a. If you haven’t done any bead embroidery before, no

worries…it is easy and very forgiving in this particular project.
Threading the needle is the hardest part. If you hold the
needle over a piece of white paper you will find that it is easier
to see the teeny tiny hole. Take a deep breath and thread the
needle.

b. Hide the thread in the leaf by sliding it into the fabric, but not
through to the other side. Exit at any edge and make a slip
knot to secure the thread.

c. Pick up a green seed bead and come through the back of the
leaf edge toward the front of the leaf. Now go up through the
bottom of the bead and out the top to secure the bead. You
are simply doing a basic blanket stitch with a bead in the middle of the activity. Repeat until you have a
beaded edge around the leaf. Knot off and hide the thread. Add some additional embellishment to the
center of the bead if you are so inclined.
d. Bead around each of the flower petal layers using the same technique as the leaf.

e. I added a picot edge to the flower and you can do the same with any of the flowers, provided you have
enough beads. Once you have the first row of beads around the edge of the flower, go up through the
bottom of one of the beads to start your picot. Put three beads on the needle and put the needle under
the thread that is securing the bottom row of beads. Once you have “captured” the thread, simply go up
through the bottom of the third bead and out through the top. This is the start of your picot edge. It
doesn’t matter whether you go to the left or the right to start, but once you pick your direction, stick with
it.
 f. Now pick up two beads and capture the thread before going up through the second bead.

g. Repeat until you have entirely beaded the flower edge.

IV. Assembly
a. Swarovski Top Drill Bicones. String 5 or 6 together and knot them in a circle, leaving two long ends. Leave the
needle on because you will use it in the next step.

b. Stack the flower layers in an appealing formation. Now is the time to add a circle of velvet or silk fabric if you
want to add some additional texture. Sew the crystal ring onto the center of the stack, sewing in and out of
the crystals to secure them firmly to the flower. Make a hidden knot but do not cut the thread.

c. There will be some gaps visible in the center where the crystals do not cover the fabric. String on some pearls
or seed beads and fill in the gaps.

d. Remember that extra tail from when you added the crystals? Use it to
attach the leaves to the back of the flower. Position them about 2/3 up
the petal so that they will add support to the pin. Use a blanket stitch or
slip stitch to attach the leaves to the back of the flower. I like to
position them close together to add stability to the piece.

e. Sew on the pin back.

f. Congratulations! You did it!

AREN’T YOU PROUD?

…now go on and teach someone
what you learned!

Crafting is uncomplicated joy…pass it

on!

Have comments or questions regarding the kit?

Please contact Pat: TheCraftyRetailer@Gmail.com