Tutorial: Sew Felt Spring Tree Brooches

Spring is coming! Celebrate the return of all things green and glorious - or just your love of trees - with today's sewing tutorial: a step by step guide to making a felt tree brooch.

These trees started off life as part of a tutorial for some autumn leaf and tree cards...

... then I couldn't resist doing a spring version, so I made some spring tree textile art...

... and shared some spring tree embroidery patterns:

Obviously I had to make some felt tree brooches, too! :)

You could also add ribbon loops to create little tree ornaments, or sew lots of trees for a spring forest garland. These would also make sweet motifs or patches to add to larger projects.

How to make a felt tree brooch:

1. Follow the steps in my spring tree textile art tutorial to sew your chosen tree design, using the templates linked to in that post. 

Instead of sewing the tree pieces to a piece of felt in an embroidery hoop you can just sew them to a piece of loose backing felt, but you may find having the felt held in the hoop makes it easier for you to add the embroidered details. If you're sewing your tree on loose felt there's no need to use tacking stitches to hold the tree shape in position, just use a pin instead.

If you're planning on making a few trees, try it one way then the other and see which method works best for you!

2. Remove the felt from your embroidery hoop (if you've used one) then cut out the tree shape, leaving a narrow border of the backing felt.

3. Use the tree shape as a template to cut out a matching matching shape from more of the backing felt. This plain shape will become the back of your brooch (or ornament, etc).

4. Turn the back of your brooch over, and add a brooch clasp. Sew it with a double thickness of sewing thread to match the backing felt.

5. Then hold the front and back of the brooch together and use more of the same thread to join them together, sewing flush around the tree shape with running stitch. And you're done! Arboreal felt goodness to pin to your jumper (sweater) or jacket this spring.

This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it to stitch as many trees as you want for yourself or as gifts, but please don't make any for sale. Thanks xx

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P.S. Subscribe to my newsletter (currently taking a break but hopefully back soooon) for free patterns and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more creative projects.

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns and lots more:

Felt Flower Brooch Craft Kits for Hawthorn Handmade

In case you missed my exciting news last week: I've designed some felt sewing kits for Hawthorn Handmade, who sell the loveliest beginner-friendly craft kits.

I'm so delighted to have been asked to work on these, and super happy with how they've turned out. 

Last week I shared lots of photos of the collection of wildlife brooches (a hare, a deer, a wren, a hedgehog, a fox, and a tawny owl), and today I'm going to show you some snaps of the second collection: flower brooches! 

Each of the embroidered floral brooches is named after a famous woman gardener or botanist, isn't that great? You can find the whole range of brooch kits here (with worldwide shipping, hurrah!) and find out about the women each flower brooch is named after, too.

I love the choice of names, and I loooove the photos Hawthorn Handmade have taken of the finished brooches. 

There's Marianne...

 

... Gertrude...

... Beatrix...

 

... Penelope...

 

... Margery...

... and Vita!

Which one's your fave? I absolutely cannot decide on mine.

Click here to shop the whole range of felt craft kits.  

Felt Teapot & Teacup Brooches PDF Pattern

UPDATE: my felt teapot and teacup brooch tutorial is now available from my shop, or in my Patreon pattern library.

Subscribe for a small monthly fee and you'll get access to a growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, with an email whenever I add a new project. You can cancel any time. 

Click here to check out my Patreon page and sign up!

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Fancy a step by step guide for sewing felt teapot and teacup brooches?

These cute little felt brooches are super easy to sew and make lovely gifts for tea fans (either on their own, or along with a box of their favourite tea!).

 

Polkadot felt makes these brooches extra cute - I love these mini dots but I've made these brooches before with bigger spots and they looked just as nice. If you just have plain felt you could add dots with some simple embroidery, or maybe embroider a little flower instead.

 

You could also use the templates to make a teapot or teacup ornament (just add a loop of ribbon!) or applique the shapes onto a larger project. 

The PDF file includes three easy-to-print sizes of the templates, or you can resize the templates as you prefer.

Felt Peony Brooches PDF Pattern

I've added another printable PDF pattern to my shops this week: a tutorial for sewing pretty felt peony brooches.

Is it a sensible business strategy to be adding summer flower patterns to my shops in the middle of winter? Probably not, but never mind!

I wanted some simple sit-on-the-sofa-with-my-feet-up tasks to do after packing and posting the last of my pre-Christmas orders... aaaaand so I've ended up launching a bunch of entirely un-seasonal PDFs :)

 

The peonies are easy to sew but they do involve cutting lots of layers of petals. Don't worry if you think your cutting skills need a bit of improvement though, peony petals are a bit wobbly in real life after all, and cutting all these layers will give you lots of practice.

I always recommend investing in a pair of embroidery scissors to help you with cutting small or fiddly felt shapes - the small, narrow blades make it so much easier than using standard sewing scissors.

Click here to buy my Peonies PDF Pattern from my Etsy shop (the file will be available to download immediately after purchase).

Little Felt Robins PDF Pattern

Psst - there's a new PDF pattern in my shops!

 

You can use this tutorial to sew sweet little felt robin brooches or Christmas ornament... with or without sequins! 

The printable PDF file includes step by step photos and instructions, plus three easy-to-print sizes of the templates. 

 

As with all the PDF patterns I sell, once you've bought my little robins pattern you have my permission to use it to make items for sale at craft fairs or in your own online shops.

 

Click here to buy my Little Robins PDF Pattern from my Etsy shop (the file will be available to download immediately after purchase).

Felt Teacup & Teapot Brooches Tutorial: Available Now!

UPDATE:  I shared this project with my newsletter subscribers last year, it's now available from my shop or in my Patreon pattern library.

For a small monthly fee you can get access to my growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, with an email whenever I add a new project. You can cancel any time. Click here to check out my Patreon page and sign up!

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This tutorial is a step-by-step guide to sewing cute felt teacup and teapot brooches:

These are so fun and easy to sew and make sweet gifts for tea lovers. You could even make a whole batch of them, have a tea party (once the lockdown is over, of course!!) and give a brooch to each of your guests as a memento.

 

Polkadot felt makes these brooches extra cute. I found mine on Etsy, but lots of craft stores sell it. I love these mini dots but I've made these brooches before with bigger spots and they looked just as nice. If you just have plain felt you could add dots with some simple embroidery, or maybe embroider a little flower instead.

 

Sewing Tutorial: Felt Teacup and Teapot Brooches

UPDATE:  I shared this project with my newsletter subscribers last year, it's now available from my shop, or in my Patreon pattern library.

Subscribe for a small monthly fee and you'll get access to a growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, with an email whenever I add a new project. You can cancel any time. 

 

Click here to check out my Patreon page and sign up! 

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I'm running a little behind with 2020's first freebie for my pattern newsletter subscribers... so I thought I'd make it a double tutorial!

This year's first free project will be a step by step sewing tutorial for making cute little felt teacup brooches...

... and felt teapot brooches, too.

A felt teacup or teapot (or both) would look lovely pinned to your favourite jacket this spring, and one of the brooches would be a fab gift for the tea lovers in your life (along with some tea, of course!). You could also swap the brooch clasp for a hairclip to make Alice in Wonderland style hair accessories, or add a ribbon loop to make a cute teacup ornament.

Polkadot or other patterned felt is optional when making these brooches but it looks super cute. If you just have plain felt you can easily add dots or other patterns with sequins, seed beads, or some simple embroidery.

If you've been following my work for a really long time you might remember these designs (and these photos) from the days when I sold lots of tea-themed brooches. It's so nice revisiting these old projects to share them with you guys and having a nostalgic browse back through my photo archives.

I used to make blue and red versions of the teacups and teapots, both on a zingy yellow felt background but you can of course make yours in any colours you fancy.

 

Choosing matching sewing thread will help your brooches turn out lovely and neat - I took this photo when I sat down to sew blue teacup brooches and had dozens of blue threads but none in the shade I needed!

Here are some teapots and flowers in progress - I love looking back at these colourful work-in-progress pics.

Since I took this photo back in 2008 the forget-me-nots have evolved into a design I included in my first book, and a version of the primrose design is now available in my shop as a printable pattern. Aaaaand of course now I'm working on a tutorial for the teapots :)