Cleaning a load of broken vintage jewellery the other day I immediately spotted two obvious opportunities for upcycling in the form of the two brooches in the middle, both missing the central focal stone.
And both crying out for ribbon roses! First the gold and pink diamante brooch.
This has a silk ribbon rose stitched onto coloured pelmet vilene with nested detached chain stitch leaves and a shiny rayon french knot nestled in its heart. Available in my Etsy shop here.
If the round brooch was small, the bar brooch is even smaller, with the central bezel tray I was looking to fill measuring just over 1cm wide!
Time to scale down to 2mm wide silk ribbon and single strands of silk thread to create a tiny spray. I love the way this turned out – even though I know it’s stitched, at first glance it looks like micromosaic!
Also available in my Etsy shop here.
I was playing with some scraps of upcycled felt a while ago that I’d made in the washing machine from some 100% wool garments that were past wearing. I added some broken jewellery pieces and a kilt pin that had been part of a job lot of broken/unwanted jewellery and came up with this little pendant brooch.
From this brooch came the idea for a workshop and some more samples. Firstly, an octagonal piece of broken earring, a scrap of felt and sheaf stitch, detached chain stitch and french knots in a funky variegated thread became this brooch. Finished off with beaded blanket stitch around the edges and blanket stitch to attach it to the pin.
I realised that some little metal tags from my found objects box looked like the bodies of fish and so I started another sample, stitching them down with long and short stitch to create flamboyant tails.
Palestrina and feather stitch creates fronds of seaweed and also helps hold the ‘bodies’ of the fish in place, and french knots form the sea bed.
I like all my samples, but those fishes have a special place in my heart – they came out exactly as I’d imagined them!
Isn’t it lovely when a plan comes together! I’m constantly amazed and impressed by the upcycled jewellery you create.
Thank you. :o) Having a plan come together is bliss after all the ones that you have to stop and start and redesign!
I love your creativity! Keep up the amazing work! Best Wishes, Claire Monaghan (from New Jersey, USA)
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Thank you very much!!
All lovely and my group did similar kilt pin brooches a couple of years ago. Very wearable. Love the little fish too!
And reversible if you sandwich two embroidered pieces together which someone pointed out to me on the workshop!!
You always make such beautiful things and it always looks like there is so much creativity in how you mix and combine things together. The fishies though are just delightful. I can’t believe how effective and striking the long and short for the tails is.