Bead Embroider a Bird Brooch!

This project makes an amazing gift for all the special people in your life. You can make it any color combination you like, and it will look beautiful. With a few supplies and hours on your hands, this bird brooch will be ready to shine!

Supplies

1. Lacy's stiff stuff (or felt)
2. Sequins in color of choice
3. Seed beads in color of choice
4. Beading needles and thread
5. Ultrasuade or leather for backing
6. Single rhinestone for belly
7. E6000 glue
8. Brooch finding pin

Step 1: Sketching Out Your Shape

On the Lacy's stiff stuff, sketch out the outline of the bird. This will be your guide to follow when you go in with the beads. Once you have the general outline, go ahead and cut out the shape, making sure to leave roughly a quarter inch around the shape.

Step 2: Beading Around the Outline

On the line you just sketched, use seed beads and bead along it. Use the simple "backstich" method to do so, looking at the diagram above. Once you finish the outline, you can start to fill the wings with the sequins.

Step 3: Attaching the Sequins

You can see in my example, I used three different colored sequins that melted in with each other as they reached the top. Feel free to experiment with what you choose to do. Attaching the sequins with the bead is simple, thread one on where you want it to fall then put a bead in the needle, preferably a color that compliments the scale, then guide it right back into the hole, keeping the sequin right in place. Theres a visual above if you need reference. Do this for both wings.

Step 4: Beading the Bird's Body

Next you will fill in the body of the bird. Take the stone you picked out for the body with some E6000 glue. Let it dry. After that, it's up to you to get creative. I beaded the belly on either side of the bird one shade of blue, then made the tail and head another. I also made the beak gold and put in one black bead for the eye. There are many ways you can do this, so get creative!

Step 5: Adding the Backing

Ok, you're almost done. Go ahead and cut out the bird, being careful not to snip the thread and have the beads fall off. Take the cut out bird and with E6000 on the back, attach it to the ultra suede. After giving it time to dry, cut it out again.

Step 6: Finishing Touches

Now that its cut out and backed, you can bead the edges, locking in all the layers. There's different ways to do this, but look above for a diagram on how to do my favorite style. After you go all the way around doing that, all you have to do is use the E6000 to attach the brooch finding to the back. Let it dry, and its done!