I decided, when I taught myself to crochet, that I would make flowers as they seemed to me to be an extremely good way to learn crochet stitches & techniques, they are small, quick to make & they are beautiful.
So I made loads of them, all different sizes, different yarns & in a multitude of colours.
Then I wondered what to do with them & how to display them, so I turned them into brooches.
a carpet of flowers
I love the crochet flowers both to crochet & to look at, I love their complexity, vibrancy & colour.
Brooches are versatile.
They can be worn on shirts, jackets or coats, used to hold scarves or shawls in place, attached to bags, pinned on the wall & I have been known to attach them to toys.
I started thinking about other brooches I might make.
Circular, but less complex, fewer colours, less busy, simplified.
I had been felting brightly coloured crochet nesting bowls for gifts & had also made a couple of 'double skinned' bowls (where the inner & outer are crocheted as a continuation of each other then united in the felting process …that was fun & I must re-visit that process one day)
 felted bowls for trinkets & treasures |  double skin felted bowls |
Resulting from those experiments was the next incarnation of brooches which were the concentric circles of varying colours, made out of wool & felted.
I made 2 series, one using more subdued colours which have a completely different aesthetic & appeal.
The other series using the bright colours I had used for the felted bowls which I decided to embroider as if they are buttons.
Brooch…Button …get it ?.…anyway …
 circle brooches |  cute as a button brooches |
Then I twigged that the felted circle* is actually the ideal little 'canvas' on which I can 'draw' with embroidery.
Currently I make the brooches in batches, up to 5 at a time.
I crochet the circles for the bases which I then hand felt.
The circles are shaped, dried, then re-shaped if needed & shaven to make them flatter & less hairy then they are naturally.
By making the bases myself I get the size & colour I want.
Currently I make the brooches in batches, up to 5 at a time.
I crochet the circles for the bases which I then hand felt.
The circles are shaped, dried, then re-shaped if needed & shaven to make them flatter & less hairy then they are naturally.
By making the bases myself I get the size & colour I want.
 felting tools ! |  batch of 5 for new brooches |
I design a pattern, draw it, then embroider the brooch.
I make a backing of an acrylic felt disc to which I have securely hand stitched a brooch back/pin.
I sandwich cotton batting between the backing & the brooch for shaping.
These layers are glued together using a quality fabric to fabric glue.
 brooches: 'daisy a day' (top) & 'lashings of pink' (bottom) |  'daisy a day' profile detail |
Each brooch is individually handcrafted & all absolutely unique which is what it's all about.
Small, lightweight, wearable works of art.
The full selection of circle brooches & embroidered brooches which are available in our Etsy shop can be found here
*these are not really circles but hexagons due to the way I crochet them
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