Needlepunch Flower Pin... A Tutorial

Continuing my experiments with the Dancing Needle, I made a couple of flower pins to give as last minute Christmas gifts. Or maybe I'll call them "New Year's Gifts"...yes, that's better!

I took pictures along the way so you could see how the process went. My biggest pleasure and discovery is that needlepunch allows for combining all kinds of fibers...and we crazy quilters definitely have big stashes of those to draw from.

There are 15 pictures in all, with the captions below each picture.

This is my initial "gathering" for one of the flowers. As you can see, fibers range from sewing machine thread to unspun thick silk to silk habotai meant for rotary cutting into 1" strips.

Using my smallest needle punch, I used three threads at once for the center of the flower, starting with the outline of the shape I wanted to fill in.

Nice! Along the outer edge of the circle I had taken out the darkest thread, so it looks lighter. Lots of fun color play is possible with this stuff!

Switching to a larger needle and increasing the length of the loops, I added unspun silk thread. Texture is another big variable to play with using this technique.

Fast forward....4mm and 7mm silk ribbon have gone on, along with more unspun silk. Here I am adding the silk habotai. I could have gone wider with the strips if I'd wanted to; this huge needlepunch still had plenty of "room" in it.

I was working on a blue and white flower, too. This picture is to show that you can add detail using fine threads after the fact of getting the bulky ribbon punched in.

Fast forward again. I've felted some silk and wool fibers onto green cotton flannel for my leaves and cut them out. The Timtex circles on the left are cut out to fit the backs of the flowers.

Here I am making a running stitch around the perimeter of the flower's base fabric, using beading thread for strength.

I pulled on the thread and it gathered pretty well. A few extra stitches here and there tightened things up.

The leaves have been embroidered and wire sewn onto their backs so they can be shaped. In this picture I have sewn on a backing of lightweight silk, leaving the bottom open. I trimmed the silk, turned the leaves, and sewed them onto the timtex on the backs of my flowers.

Two more Timtex circles were cut out and a pinback glued to each one.

I made slits in the ultrasuede to poke the ends of the pinback through, and then glued the ultrasuede onto the Timtex and to the back. Then I sewed this to the back of the flower, covering the ends of the leaves and giving a nice finish.

I also added a few beads around the edges of the leaves on this one.

So here is one of them....it could look great pinned to a black scarf...

This one I imagine worn on the lapel of a jean jacket...

I could keep playing with these but I have a UFO calling to me....it's been waiting for five years and the time is right. You'll see!.....