Jewelry Blog

>If you love brooches but do not have the money to spend on diamond brooches and other jewel-encased pins, it doesn’t mean you have to go out unadorned. There are simple ways to make handcrafted brooches that rival the beauty of even the most expensive jewels.
Brooches can be made from all kinds of materials easily found in your local department store, or even at home. You can brooches out of wood, buttons, beads or even bottle caps. Following are three examples of giftable brooches that you can make yourself and a step-by-step guide on how to make them.

1. The Ruffle Button Brooch. This brooch can be a hip attachment to your coat, hat or bag and is very easy to make. All you need is a needle and thread, a piece of fabric (approximately 8″x8″), a button, a pin back and a hot iron. The first step in making this brooch is by cutting your fabric into a circle, after which you need to create a hem by folding the edges of the fabric and pressing it with the hot iron. Once you have the hem, you may start creating the ruffle by sewing baste stitches along the hem of the fabric. You may adjust the size of the ruffles according to your preference. After stitching, place the button at the center of the fabric and secure it with the needle and thread. It is now time to attach the pin back simply by sewing it onto the back of the fabric. Presto, you’re done!

2. Classic Beaded Brooch. All you need to make this inexpensive but attractive brooch are the following: brooch back, beads, beading wire, a large jump ring and your charm of choice. You may also need a pair of metal cutters and round-nosed pliers. These tools are easy enough to find and are also inexpensive. Now that you have what you need, its time to make your brooch. Cut your desired length of wire and secure the first bit by passing it through one of the holes in the brooch back and tying it tightly.

3. Beaded Safety Pins. Probably the easiest handcrafted brooch to make, all you need for this accessory are a number of small safety pins (10-14 pieces), beads and one larger safety pin. Open a safety pin, slip beads onto it then close the pin and pinch the end with pliers to make sure that it does not pop open and spill the beads. Repeat this step with all the small safety pins and beads.

There are a lot more ways to create trendy handcrafted brooches without spending a fortune, and the three examples cited above can get you started. With practice, you can move on to other, more challenging designs.

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