Category Archives: flower brooch

A Few Makes For Spring.

It hasn`t been a cold Winter, but it`s been a very long, rainy, dreary, dark and depressing one. Everyone is longing for the Spring, and now we`re into March it feels as though it`s almost here. It`s still quite chilly, but there have been one or two sunny days, and it`s wonderful to have an extra hour or two of daylight in the evenings.

I thought I`d share a few bright, cheery makes that look forward to Spring.

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A sunshine yellow Brimstone butterfly.

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Stitched flower brooches.

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twin heart brooches for Oban 032 A few twin heart brooches.

butterfly heart brooches for etsy 001 New butterfly heart brooches.

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And a pair of Orange Tip butterflies fluttering over some lovely vintage fabric in cheerful shades of pink and orange.

I`m longing for long sunny days and really hope we have another Summer like last one. The clocks go forward in a few weeks so at least it will be a lot lighter, thank goodness! Like lots of people I find Spring a really energising and inspiring time so I`m really looking forward to exploring lots of new ideas.

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Filed under butterflies, embroidered brooches, embroidery, flower brooch, little heart brooch

Online Shop Now Open!

At last… I`ve finally emerged into the 21st century craft world and opened my online shop! I struggle with all things computery but the lovely people at Etsy make it all very easy. So now when you click on my shop page (instead of just getting ‘coming soon’, which was there much longer than I intended!) you can follow the link to my Etsy shop.

I`ve listed a selection of brooches and some recycled fabric hairbands to begin with, and I`ll be adding a few pieces every week. I`m looking forward to making some one-off pieces to sell online too, plus some larger items.

These brooches and hairbands are all available now.

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Filed under flower brooch, hair accessories, layered corsage, little heart brooch, online shop, owl brooches, recycled fabrics, recycled papers, vintage ties

Valentine`s Hearts.

During the past few weeks, I`ve been busy making lots of Valentine`s and Mothers` day brooches for my stockists. They all needed a good topping up after Christmas and I enjoyed making some pretty brooches that look forward to Spring.

Hearts galore for Valentine`s day! These round heart brooches are new.

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More little stitched hearts and tweed hearts.

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Some more stitched flowers, pretty for Spring and perfect for Mothers` day.

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Another batch of layered corsages. I`m so pleased that these are selling really well. They`re my favourites at the moment, I`ve been wearing one almost every day!

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I also had a couple of commissions last month, for a wedding fascinator and a Jaunty Jim cap.

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vh 19 (JJ cap)

These were people who had found me online and it has made me determined to get on with my online shop. Now that my stockists are topped up it will be my next plan of action!

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Filed under fascinators, flower brooch, hair accessories, Jaunty Jim caps, layered corsage, little heart brooch, recycled fabric, tweed heart brooch

Christmas is coming….

My Edinburgh stockists have been keeping me busy over the last few weeks on the run up to Christmas. I`ve been making lots of all my best sellers to keep them topped up. This batch of heart brooches were for Flux in Leith.

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Some of my favourite brooches to make for Autumn/Winter are my leaf corsages. Inspired by Autumn leaves, they`re made from recycled tweed and felt which I`ve dyed in leafy colours. Each corsage is made up of a layer of four leaves, finished off with a rustic wooden button. The leaf shapes are ‘drawn’ freehand on the sewing machine so they are all slightly different.

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My new layered corsages have been selling well and I`ve just finished my fourth batch of them. I made some lovely muted ones using recycled velvets and brocades mixed with voiles, tweeds and vintage ties.

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I even made myself a silvery one to wear on my sparkly Christmas jumper!

silver layered corsage

The corsages inspired some little fascinators which I made for Miss Katie Cupcake in Cockburn street. The flowers are layered onto black felt with lots of net. I made them on hairbands so they are very easy to wear, perfect for a Christmas party!

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Yesterday I took some time off to gather greenery from the garden to make a wreath for the front door and lots of bunches to hang up in the cottage. I used lots of textures and leaf shapes, mixing holly and ivy with hebe, laurel, golden privet and other evergreens. I always add a few sprigs of rosemary to the indoor garlands for the lovely scent.

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Merry Christmas to all and best wishes for 2013!

Look out for my online shop, opening soon in the New Year.

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Filed under flower brooch, hair accessories, little heart brooch, my garden, recycled fabric, vintage fabric, vintage ties, winter

New Layered Corsage.

I was having a (much needed) tidy and sort through of my fabrics recently and thought it would be nice to combine lots of different textures and make some new corsages for Autumn/Winter.

The flowers are made from lots of different recycled fabrics, including tweeds, tartans, corduroy, denim, vintage ties, satins, velvets and silks.

They have a sprinkling of vintage bits and bobs in their centres- buttons, beads, crystals and sequins. I enjoyed playing with all the combinations of textures and was quite pleased with the jewel-like effect.

My first batch of these brooches have gone straight into Flux, Fabhatrix, and the Lucie Fenton Gallery. I`m now working on another lot, all made in lovely berry colours, which should be ready in a few days.

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Filed under flower brooch, recycled fabrics, vintage fabric

Felt Poppies.

These felt poppies are probably my best sellers. I`ve been making them for two or three years now, but I always have to make a few every week to keep topped up.

The poppies are made from layers of felt and recycled tweed with a shiny black button at the centre. They have two padded leaves with hand-stitched details in wool.

These are a few that I made this week.

Red is the most popular colour, with bright pink the runner up, but I enjoy working with all the bright colours, especially when contrasted with grey and black.

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Filed under felt poppy corsage, flower brooch, recycled fabrics, Uncategorized

New Stitched Tweed Flowers.

The layered, stitched flowers that I made for the Summer were very popular, so I wanted to make a Winter version. I made these flowers this week.

Instead of cottons, I layered tiny scraps of recycled tweed over felt to make the petals. I thought the various black and white tweeds were a great contrast with the bright coloured felt.

They have shiny, faceted black beads for centres which were taken from an old necklace.

Layering the black and white tweeds reminded me of layers of newsprint when working with papier mache.

I think these flowers go really well with my felt poppies, they`re both perfect for cheering up a black Winter coat.

My first wee batch went straight into Flux in Leith, but I`m going to make lots more, including some more muted coloured ones. It`s been a while since I`ve had time to make anything new, so I really enjoyed making these.

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Filed under flower brooch, recycled fabrics, Stitched tweed and felt corsage