After reading the title of this post, you may be shaking your head…Does it really say Furniture Applique Brooches? And that’s ok- I know it sounds completely ridiculous! But if you bear with me for a few more paragraphs, I think I might convince you that the end result is pretty fantastic.
So, here’s how I got to this crazy idea: For two years now, I’ve had a bag of salvaged furniture appliques (those wooden embellishments that furniture makers put on chairs and armoires, etc.) just sitting in my craft room. I purchased them from Preservation Station in Nashville simply because I was high on architectural salvage and these were the only bits I could afford in the store!
Old furniture appliques…ready to be repurposed!
The bag of wooden bits kept getting pushed back further into the depths of my craft room. And then, a crazy idea began to form. What if I took some of my wool tweed scraps from my DIY coasters project…
These look nice together…
Plus the leftover feathers from my autumn wreath project…
Yup…I’m digging this combo.
And combine all three elements- wood, wool, and feather- into a statement brooch for an autumn/winter coat?? This post contains affiliate links for your crafting convenience.
Of course, the question then became- can I take the gorgeous image in my head and create it with my hands?? So, I assembled all my goodies…and started by using my pinking shears on the tweed scraps, cutting out a backing for each furniture applique. Then, I fused the tweed to the applique with fabric glue.
Let’s DIY!
Once the adhesive set, I turned my attention to the feathers- my gorgeous, humanely-collected feathers from Running Bug Farm. I used my hot glue gun to bind them to the back of the tweed.
Coming together nicely…
After playing around with different combinations (I have a LOT of tweed and a LOT of feathers), I ended up with three applique brooches-to-be.
Aren’t they pretty?
Gorgeous!
Now to finish them up! I decided to use scraps of leftover felt as the backing, and stitched bar pins to each circle/oval of felt. Then, I used my fabric glue to adhere the felt to the back of each brooch.
Finishing touches…
Ok.
Are you still with me? Do you feel like the idea is less crazy now? Because here’s how they look on Kate DiNatale Vintage’s coat!
SO GOOD!!
Seriously, who would have thought? Well, me, I guess!
Not entirely crazy after all…in fact, they’re pretty awesome (in my not-humble-at-all opinion)! A statement brooch without sparkle…who would have thought it was possible? Warm and cozy and a conversation piece, all in one.
Craft on!
S
PIN ME!
The post Salvage Couture: Reclaimed Furniture Applique Brooches appeared first on Sadie Seasongoods.