DIY Cloud + Lightning Brooch

The rain is back here in Portland, and I am LOVING the Fall weather. We've even had some thunderstorms so far this year (which is very rare here). It inspired me to make this cute little felt brooch (a perfect craft for a rainy afternoon!).

To make this felt brooch you will need:

Grey felt
Yellow felt
scissors
needle
pin back
cotton ball or small amount of polyester fiber fill
thread (colors of your choice)
cloud template (I used the one from my rain cloud brooch)
fabric glue or hot glue (optional)

I started by cutting out my shapes and choosing some thread. I made some templates out of index cards, you can use my cloud template or easily make your own. I free handed my lightning bolt pattern onto my felt (its basically a zigzag line that comes to a point). I like a really bright yellow with matching thread for the contrast it gave my final project, you can definitely use lighter colors if you prefer.

I wanted my lightning bolt to have a little more heft so I doubled the layers and used a blanket stitch to sew them together. Blanket stitch is great because it seems to smooth out the edges of your final shape (which is really useful with felt pieces that can be quite fuzzy around the edge).

Next, I placed my lightning bolt onto one of my clouds and moved it around to decide just where I wanted it placed. Once you decide, you can sandwich the other piece of grey felt on top and get your needle threaded to sew your clouds together.

I decided to give my cloud a silver lining (ha! I do in fact, love this weather!) and thought a backstitch would look cute all the way around. You can do another blanket stitch, or get even fancier with something else if you like, I'm not the boss of you and your crafts :)

Once you get a little over halfway around your cloud, I usually start adding some stuffing in to make sure I can get all the way into the ends. For this I just used a cotton ball, but if you have polyester fiber fill laying around you can use that instead. Continue sewing and adding cotton until your cloud is fully stuffed and you have stitched the entire way around. Tie off your string and weave in the ends if you feel it necessary. Finish your brooch by attaching a pin back onto the back of your cloud (you can use fabric glue, hot glue, or stitch the pin back onto the back of your cloud).

Above you can see a detail of my silver lining stitching. I used a metallic thread because I like things that are sparkly, but you could easily substitute a plain grey or silver colored thread without the sparkly filaments.

Tada! Has the weather inspired you to make anything super cute lately? I'd love to hear about it!

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Silver Metallic thread for this post was provided by Kreinik Threads. I was not compensated in any other way for this post and all opinions are my own.

Embroidery How To: Chain Stitch

Welcome back everyone! Here is another great embroidery stitch for you to try out, Chain Stitch! This stitch is great for outlining when you want a more decorative look than a straight or back stitch. It's also really easy to do, and once you practice a little it isn't too difficult to get a chain stitch that looks quite uniform.

I was feeling a little fancy for this tutorial and wanted to try out some metallic thread. This is a very fine braid metallic thread from Kreinik Threads, and it great for hand embroidery (but it would also work in a machine).

Next, I traced a curvy line onto my fabric. Chain stitch is great because it easily goes around curves as well as straight lines, while still looking uniform and flowing well in your work. If you are just starting out, you may just want to try a straight line as a stitch sample, but I would definitely recommend trying out some curves as well.

Start your stitch by pulling your thread through your fabric back to front, as shown in the image above.

Next, you will complete a single chain "loop" by pushing your needle back through the fabric at your initial starting point (or very close to it), and bringing the needle back up through the fabric at point 3- a little farther down your pattern or practice line. Pull your thread taught, but not too tight, to create a nice little loop! Now step 3 in the diagram above becomes the beginning of your next loop. Continue on until you have finished your practice line.

On the final chain loop, you will pass your needle back through the fabric from front to back securing your chain "loop" and be able to tie off the thread or weave it in neatly.

What stitches would you like to see next?


Threads for this post were provided by Kreinik Threads. Manufactured in Parkersburg, WV.