How to make a Vintage Fabric Brooch – and a random act of kindness

You may know by now, it is Random Acts of Kindness Day on Monday 17^th February. A day when kindness and altruism are encouraged amongst us all. To do something for another without seemingly needing or expecting anything back is surely a wonderful gesture. Wait a second though, it seems fairly logical that to perform an act of random kindness to another will surely make oneself feel happier too. A win win if ever there was one. It is also Valentine’s Day on Friday 14^th a day when we traditionally send a card, often anonymously to someone we are romantically linked to or would like to be. Or in my case, a day you send your grown-up children cards and chocolate just as you always have done and say “I have no idea what you mean” when they call you later to thank you. Both days are synonymous with the heart and so you will not be surprised to learn today’s craft is also based around a heart design. Today I am showing you how to create a beautiful and simple vintage fabric brooch from time worn treasures. Quite suitably appropriate as a gesture for both these days, do join me…

You will recall here I mentioned ladies who talked of saving fragments of material so small, you would throw them away without a second thought. Bits as tiny as those on the crafting floor after a rainy afternoon session. Those teeny tiny bits which might even fit up your vacuum hose pipe were you not to pay adequate attention. I worry at what treasure I may have hoovered up over the years perhaps the smallest of slivers I had never dreamed were worthy of a future project.

I began this happy craft afternoon, by gathering together those pieces I have salvaged which I keep safe in these pretty pink drawers, drawers which can only have been created for such a purpose.

And then I simply drew with pencil around my heart template on my chosen brooch base fabric. Rubbish, absolute tosh. Who am I kidding, I spent hours oohing and ahhing over beautiful antique quilt scraps, justifying choices and generally procrastinating as to which piece I could bring myself to part with. Not at all altruistic I hear you cry. I am as always, a work in progress.

You should use a thick piece of material for the base of the fabric brooch to offer substance when you attach the finished piece to your finest clothes. Eventually I made the choice and selected a sturdy piece of vintage quilt and took a deep breath and cut.

And that really should be the hardest part of the joyful process which is creating your fabric brooch. Yet it is not. Next you have to decide which fragments, bits and pieces of your stash you will part with. And it shouldn’t ever be that difficult. But it is. Bits you didn’t give a second thought to and those which you did and squirrelled away, must now be called to action and it’s not at all easy. What if there is another project on another wet and rainy afternoon better served by this piece? What if you use your favourite treasure now and, in a while, you realise it was destined for another craft? There is no going back. I have truffles in my box dating back to when Little Miss was a babe in arms. That is officially vintage by today’s standards. No, you must take your time at this juncture, choose well, don’t be flippant or blasé for you may come to regret that you once were.

When you do finally decide fold, screw, tear and crinkle your ephemera – for that is what it surely is – and use a few pins to hold the design in place. And anything goes. I used typewritten messages on scraps of handmade paper, labels from here, ribbons and buttons from there and bits of broken bracelets and necklace. When your design is in place use your machine to go crazy with a simple running stitch up and down, left to right wherever it wants to go. Take care to secure your embellishments and not flatten them; a little undulation adds to the look.

I used simple safety pins stitched securely with double thick embroidery thread on the reverse of the brooch for fastening. These are the real deal though and I have some on order for future projects since yet again I believe these will make the perfect gift for friends and family and I have a few jackets and jumpers of my own which require adornment.

And I could not possibly have had a happier time creating all these pretty vintage fabric brooches.

One pretty fabric heart brooch has been sent on its merry way to a virtual friend in the hope she will enjoy wearing it and another is destined for an in real life friend; gifts of love from one friend to another if you like. And the third? Well you should look carefully next time you are out and about for on Monday, I shall leave one somewhere in the hope of brightening someone’s day; a nod to the kindness day. Wait a minute I hear you cry, there are four vintage fabric brooches in the last photo and this explanation accounts only for three. What of the fourth?

Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Random Acts of Kindness Day to you too, until next week… x