Snowflake Pin ~ Tutorial
I've been making lots of little felt and beaded pins lately and thought that you might enjoy seeing how I make these. First, gather the materials. Wool or part wool felt is best. You don't need much as these are small. A couple of contrasting colors is nice. You'll also need a pin back (I like the ones with a simple catch rather than the ring clasp), a tiny bit of wool fleece, some embroidery floss, beads, a tiny bit of buckram and a tiny bit of wonder-under or jiffy fuse.
Using a large coin as a template, cut a circle out of a nice white wool felt. Gather a tiny bit of wool fleece to add depth and interest.
Next, featherstitch the fleece to the circle (I used a bit of Kreinik fine braid with a wintery iridescence.)
Add any embroidery you wish. I used one strand of rayon embroidery floss to embroider a simple snowflake.
Next I added some iridescent beads for shine.
For the back, cut a piece slightly larger than the front. You may wish to wait to trim the back until after the pin is completely assembled. I trimmed it first and then touched it up when I was done. Here you can see the large coin I used as my template that I found in the bottom of some fiber stash I received from someone. It was the perfect size! Also you can see the circle of black buckram trimmed ever so slighty smaller than the front piece so it won't show. Normally I'd use white for a pin like this, but I didn't have any and I'm trying to use what I have. The wool felt is thick enough that it doesn't show through.
With sharp scissors, cut a small slot for each end of the pin back to go through. At the clasp end of the pin, I cut two slots, one for the clasp and one for the tab to go through. Then using my small needle nose pliers, I flattened the tab to help it hold in place.
A few stitches to help hold the pin back in place securely. I also embroidered my initials and the year.Then I assembled the rest of the pieces.
To assemble the pieces, place the front of the pin upside down. Top it with a circle of the Jiffy-fuse and the circle of buckram. Here I'm working on a folded towel on my bathroom counter. The thickness is great when ironing with beads or detailed embroidery and it saves getting the ironing board out!
Next top it with a small piece of freezer paper, plastic side down. This keeps any stray Jiffy-fuse from getting on the iron. The paper peels right off! Then iron carefully in order not to shift the pieces. You could pin the pieces if you like for the initial press. The Jiffy-fuse will join the felt and buckram nicely with no need for stitching.
Next add another layer of Jiffy fuse and then the backing. I always check to make sure I've got them all in the correct order at this point!
Without using the freezer paper, iron the backing down carefully. Iron around all sides of the pin back, getting as close as you can. At this point, I check the edges to see that everything is well adhered.
Here you can see that the black buckram does show through the thin polyester felt I used for the back of this pin. It won't show at all from the front though!
Turn the pin over, trim the edges as needed and Voila! A finished pin!
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