Recycled T-Shirt Flower Brooch

I know. I know. I said this would be up by Saturday. What I really meant was Monday. Life is a little unpredictable right now. This week I'm working hard on getting this baby on a schedule. Then my blogging will be back to normal I promise.

So the tutorial. I had some fun with this one. In the picture I showed last week I had made a turquoise brooch. This time though I wanted to play around with pattern. So I went with a striped shirt that I got for $5 at Kohl's that I loved on the rack just not on me.

Materials

Old T-Shirt

Pin Back

Small square of felt

Rotary Cutter or Scissors

Cutting Mat

Needle and Thread

Glue Gun

Directions

1. Lay T-shirt flat on cutting board. Cut off bottom hem of shirt. Cut 2-3 1 inch wide strips from the bottom of your t-shirt. Cut out side seams.

2. Give the ends of your strips a good tug. This will make them curl up at the edges. The more you pull the more they curl.

3. While holding the strips taut cut into smaller sections. For this flower I did 4 inch sections. The knit is very light weight so if they were longer it might have looked a little limp. If your knit is heavier you can do them longer. For the turquoise flower I did 5 inches.

4. Create a base for your flower by crossing 6 "petals" to form a circle. Bring your needle and thread up through the bottom and back down to stitch in place.

5. This next part is a little tricky to explain. Working one by one take a petal and pinch it in half stitch to the center of the base. Work around the circle until you have desired fullness. Make sure to stitch each one individually as close to the center as possible. When you reach desired fullness pull on the ends again and fluff up a little.

6. Glue pin back to the back of your flower then glue felt square on top of that for added support.

7. Your done! Pin to a sweater or jacket and enjoy!

I've forgotten how time consuming even the simplest tutorial can be. Especially when you don't have a helper to take pictures with you. So I'm sorry this is so late in getting up here. Hopefully I explained myself well enough. If you do decide to make one for yourself and you have questions please drop me an e-mail!