You’ll never feel alone wearing this cute little felt ladybug brooch on your lapel – it’s quite the conversation starter!
Make one or a whole ‘loveliness of ladybugs’ – that’s the collective term apparently! Either way they are sure to cheer up someone’s day.
A ladybug brooch would make a great gift for a child and look sweet attached to a hat, jacket or school bag. They also make fun pocket sized soft toys for younger children who love imaginative play – just omit the pin back.
You will need
- Brooch back pin (alternatively, a safety pin).
- Felt: red, black and beige.
- Thread: red, black and beige.
- Hobby fill (or your preferred stuffing material)
- Needle
- Pencil
- Haemostat (or chopstick)
- Dressmakers pins
- Hole punch
- Needle-felting kit (felting needle & pad)
- Fabric marker pen (air erasable)
A Haemostat is a surgical clamp tool with handles that lock in place. They look similar to a pair of scissors but without a cutting edge, the tips resemble needle nose pliers. They are very handy for all sorts of craft uses like turning narrow tubes, stuffing dolls and holding small items. If you don’t have a pair for this project , use a chopstick to help you insert your stuffing instead.
How to
Note: If you prefer this simply ladybug being a plush toy, skip over Step 2 and don’t sew on a brooch/pin.
1/ Print template at 100% and out the pattern pieces.
2/ Hand stitch the brooch/safety pin to the belly piece, 2 cm down from the face end.
3/ Layer and pin the hood piece over the face. With black thread, edge-stitch the inner line of the hood, to the face.
4/ With the fabric marker pen draw the facial features onto the face piece. With black thread, hand stitch over those lines.
5/ Gather-stitch along the outside edge of the hood-face section. Tightly pull this stitching, gathering the felt into a ball-like shape and tie a knot. Stuff the hood-face with hobby fill.
6/ With beige thread, gather stitch the body piece along the edge. Pull the thread, gathering the body till it matches the belly circumference, and tie a knot.
7/ Pin the body and belly pieces together and blanket stitch the edges, keeping a 2cm hole open. Stuff the belly-body with hobby fill then blanket stitch the hole closed.
8/ With a hole punch out sixteen spots from black felt. Using a felting needle attach the black spots to each wing. (Alternatively, if you do not have a needle-felting kit you can hand stitch or glue the spots on).
9/ With red thread, very loosely gather stitch the outside edge of each wing, and tie a knot.
10/ Pin the wings, wrong sides together. Blanket stitch along the centre seam, stopping 2 cm from the ‘bum’ end.
11/ Pin the hood-face to the face side of the joined wings, and stitch together with black thread.
12/ Pop the cupped wing section over the beige body, and pin into place. With red thread blanket stitch the side edges together.
Now you can attach the ladybug brooch to your clothes, your hat, bag or even your shoes. Make a boring sweater the life of the party, by decorating it with lots of these cute little ladybug brooches.
