Wednesday, March 11, 2015

use a $5 fabric swatch at Zazzle.com to make a washable, fashion brooch pin with Queen of Hearts gold crown tiara printed on it

PATTERN TUTORIAL SHOWING A
ZAZZLE.COM FABRIC 9X9" SWATCH
USED TO MAKE A WASHABLE, FABRIC
FASHION BROOCH PIN
with a removable bar pin back


This tutorial shows you how to take a $5, 9" x 9" swatch of fabric now available to purchase on zazzle.com and make a washable, sewn, fashion brooch pin, with a removable stainless steel, bar style, 1 3/4" long pin back.

The video tutorial for making the pin is on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFmFlabbAU8 showing how to use zazzle.com fabric swatch, with the Queen of Hearts gold crown tiara, to create the fashion brooch pin.

The 9x9" swatches of fabric at Zazzle, for only $5, are amazing! You can still get SO many crafts from a swatch so small! Check out other fabric designs, available in a swatch, fat quarter, or yard size, combed cotton, pima cotton, polyester, linen, in large widths at zazzle.com/fabric

I can get 4 COMPLETE sets of brooches from the swatch. I can get also get 12 brooch panel fronts, including seam allowances out of a swatch, and use a 1/4 yard of solid, coordinating fabric for the remaining 3 back panels for the 12 brooches -that's just amazing!
In fact, you can have a pin making party, if you buy a whole yard of Zazzle fabric with at least 24 swatch sewing craft brooch patterns on a yard - my Eiffel Tower Pointillism swatch fabric brooch pattern has 2 per swatch, so you can make at least 48 brooches! And ...you DON'T HAVE TO SEW them - you can use hot glue and Thermoweb, no thread, and they'll still be washable! (I washed one that I made with fabric, a tiny piece of mat board, Thermoweb, and a metal pin back hot glued to the back, and it managed to not get ruined.) And if you have a pin making party, charge $5 per pin swatch fabric, and make a profit ;)

Other things you can make with a 9x9" Zazzle fabric swatch for $5:
washable, double sided tree ornaments
doorknob sachets
a COMPLETE convertible, tiny tabletop photo frame, that changes into a brooch pin frame
wallets

On the swatch available at http://www.zazzle.com/queen_gold_crown_tiara_brooch_sewing_pattern_fabric-256049094920845486 , you get the list of extra supplies and tools that you need to buy, plus instructions, printed ON the fabric swatch!

Also, of course, are the 4 panels that make the brooch:
2 panels that make the finished front panel, the artwork design print for the front, and plain back panel
2 panels that make the finished back panel, with 2 circles to cut out, each, for the pin back's mechanisms to go through & stay in place on the back panel

When done, the finished front and finished back panels make a pocket for the slide out pin back. You will leave an opening at the top for the removable pin, so you'd only sew or glue the 3 other sides, the 2 vertical sides and bottom.


SUPPLIES NEEDED (ALSO ON THE SWATCH):
Thermoweb Heat n Bond - either Ultrahold or Lite - minimum 5" wide by 4" long- to cover the 4 brooch panels, or cut a 9x9" piece and iron it to the back of the whole swatch. If you go to JoAnn Fabrics, they sell it in the 1/8 yard, and 1/4 yard increments for $2/yard, so you can get a 1/4 yard for as little as $0.25 when on sale 50% off - it comes on a 5 yard roll, 17" wide, at AC Moore OR Michaels - get it at Michaels for $8.99 but use their 50% off coupon to save, and get it for $4.49 - it's the cheapest at Michaels, but only offered by the roll. Thermoweb Heat n Bond, is a paper backed, iron on, fabric adhesive, a fusible web, that will keep all of the brooch fabric pattern panels from puckering, it keeps the corners nice and 90 degrees, great right angles, sharp, crisp finished panels - great pattern making substrate! You can also buy it in various ways at thermowebonline.com

1 3/4" stainless steel bar style pin back - found in packs of 10, 44, 48 for $3 or $4, use a store coupon at JoAnn Fabrics, Michaels, or AC Moore - costs as little as $0.08 a pin!

thread - 1 roll of thread that matches the background color of the fabric brooch pattern panels - in this case, white thread
1 hot glue stick and a low temp hot glue gun


TOOLS NEEDED:
pointy, embroidery scissors - I bought my Gingher brand on sale for $5.40 years ago at Michaels, and they are still sharp! Really these are the only scissors you need, apart from paper scissors (never cut paper with fabric scissors lol) to cut the Thermoweb piece - you will use these to cut out the 4 panels, plus poke and cut out the 2 circles on each of the 2 back panels
pen and ruler for making and cutting out the Thermoweb piece to back the 4 panels
iron
sewing machine and extra denim weight needle are optional, and used if you want to sew the panels together

INSTRUCTIONS:

Prep work:
Now, this polyester poplin, it's like needlepoint fabric, you can see through it a bit, same for the Zazzle combed cotton - YET it is thicker and durable than the thinner cottons out there. IF you have trouble seeing the lines through the back of the fabric, push straight pins through the 4 outer corners of the 4 panels that are next to each other. On the back side, they will act as guides, when pushed through to the back, so you know where to iron the Thermoweb Heat n Bond. Center the Heat n Bond, paper side up, glue side facing the back of the fabric, and iron from the center out. Peel the paper away. You will use this paper later.

1 - Cut out the 4 fabric brooch panel patterns. You can conserve the text on the swatch, and just cut out the 4 panels by folding the whole swatch in half vertically, along the inside, thick vertical, gold line separating the panels, and snip in at the top, thick gold line, outlining the 4 panel patterns. Then go around and cut out the 4 panels, trying to cut close to the gold line, but try not to include the gold line in the finished cut out pattern panels, and do this for all 4 panels, making sure that you ONLY have the inside gold "box" of the 4 panels - that gold box is your guide that is the main panel, with white seam allowances (SAs) around the panel- 1/4" SAs surround the main panels, which are 2" wide by 1 1/2" long, each panel, the overall size of each of the 4 panels is 2 1/2" wide by 2" long INCLUDING SAs.

So, by now, you have cut out all 4 fabric brooch panel patterns, and you've made sure that the outer gold the edged the outside of the SAs has been removed enough to not see them, once folded / turned under on the back of the panels

2 - cut away the excess fabric at all 4 corners on all 4 panels. Try to cut them away at as close to 45 degrees as possible. If you turn it to where the panel corner is pointing to the top, centered, you can cut straight across, and that's the best way to get that 45 degree angle cut

3- Fold your SAs under, and use the thinner gold box line as a guide for where to fold your SAs, pressing from the center out to the edges, using your fingernail to burnish the line, thus "suctioning" the Thermoweb that is on the SA flap to the Thermoweb on the back of the main part of the panel - this will help them stay put, and stick together for you. Burnish on both sides, front and back, for all 4 sides, for all 4 panels

4- Iron down the SAs. This is where your peel away paper from the Thermoweb is handy. Place that shiny side up, and place your panel, one at a time, on it, fabric print side up, using your fingers to "nudge" the corners, and holding / pressing the SA flaps down and in place, iron each side, from the center out to the edges, start at the center, with the pointy part of your iron, between your 2 fingers holding the panel down, pressing it so the SA doesn't move, and iron out to the edges. Do this for all 4 SA sides, for all 4 panels

5- You can rub the tip of the fabric panel corner against the iron, to heat up any Thermoweb adhesive attached to the fabric panel, ever so slightly, it along with your fingers will "nudge" any of the corner's frays to the back. You can also use the tiniest of glue and the nozzle of your glue gun to "push" or "nudge" the frays to the back of the panel - IF your corners fray on you. Do this for any and all fraying corners, and check all 4 corners, on all 4 panels

6 - Open your embroidery scissors, and poke a pointy end into the center of a hole on one of the back panels, with 2 circles on it. Cut to the outer edge of the circle, cutting around the circle edge, until it is cut out. Do this for the other hole, and then do the same for the 2 holes on the other back panel.

7- Iron the 2 front panels, design front and blank back, to each other, align them so that they aren't crooked, both panels print sides will face out, and iron inside the center. Then do this for the 2 back panels.

8- You have 2 choices in finishing each of the joined, ironed together front and back panels - glue the panels together on the inside of the outer edges, pressing them shut - OR sew each finished panels outer edges, only sewing the TOP EDGE of both joined panels


9 - If you chose to sew the panels to finish them, again, ONLY sew across the TOP EDGE of both panels, BECAUSE you will sew the other 3 sides of the 2 finished panels together to form the pocket, leaving the top side open. And don't forget to back stitch at the beginning and end. You can back stitch at all corners, but definitely at the beginning and end

If you chose to glue them, again, glue the outer edges inside both panels, press them closed, then align the top design facing up, on top of the back panel - just make sure the best looking side of the back panel faces out, or in this case, down, under the top crown art panel. Then, just glue the right, bottom, and left sides, leaving an opening on the top, making a pocket for the removable pin back.

10 - Insert your pin back. I start with placing the pin back, design side away from me, against my shirt, on the side that I want it, left or right side, and figure which way I want the pin back's turning mechanism to be, on my left or right. If your right handed (which I am NOT lol), you'll probably put it on your left, so the turning mechanism will probably be to your left. So, put the brooch on the table in front of you, back side up, and insert the pin's pointy flange pin in, so that the long pin goes in the hole that's to the right, and then play with it and push the turning mechanism's side inside, to go in the other hole, and push it all in place, then pin it on! I actually put my brooches on my right side, but I would put the pin back's turning mechanism in so it would point to the left. So, it's a matter of comfort for the person wearing the brooch, and how they decide to wear it.

YOU'RE DONE! FINISHED!

WASHING INSTRUCTIONS:
remove the pin back
place the fabric brooch in a lingerie bag, and wash in the cold, delicate cycle, with mild detergent, no fabric softener.

Here are some links below to buy the supplies and tools:

http://www.joann.com/search?q=therm-o-web
http://www.michaels.com/10407676.html#q=ultrahold&start=1
http://thermowebonline.com
http://www.joann.com/search?q=toldi%20lock
http://www.joann.com/1-1-4in-steel-pin-back-with-nickel-finish--10pcs/2736734.html#q=pin+back&start=5
http://www.joann.com/gingher-5in-lightweight-craft-scissors/6599757.html


This is the best kind of costume jewelry! What jewelry can you wash?! And the designs are endless! If you want to make your own brooch, like this, with another design, just find a size that is comfortable for you, and make sure that your design is within 1/4" from the edges. If you decide that you want to sew ribbon roses and leaves, or beads on the front, sew them on from the back of the top front panel, before joining to the other 3 panels, and stay withing 1/4" from the edges, so if you sew the panels together, it will be done easily with your machine.

THANK YOU FOR READING AND HAVE FUN MAKING THESE BROOCHES!

Kristie Hubler, inventor of the washable fabric brooch with removable pin back AS WELL AS washable, fabric photo frame, copyright 2006, owner of http://fabricatedframes.com
fabricatedframescom@gmail.com
#ZIY #zazzlemade http://zazzle.com/fabricatedframes/fabric?rf=238001022235983905
The blog is also on http://kristiehublerartistproductdesignerwithfabric.wordpress.com
other sewing pattern download crafts & printables $2 to $5, buy at http://craftsy.com/user/2496069/pattern-store