While Wearing Heels: Flower Brooch/Barrette Tutorial on a dime

Ah, pinterest, you did it to me again. I happened to 'pin' a beautiful flower brooch.

Lanvin brooch (see more flower jewelry)

Gorgeous, right? How about for $335? Um, no. I am not sure about you but even if I had $335, I could NOT justify spending it on a flower brooch. I could, however, justify trying to make a similar brooch for drum roll please: $0.

$335 flower brooch compared to my $0 flower brooch, I would say equals a success.

To make one of your own, you will need: about a 1/4th of a yard of silk or polyester fabric, yard or hot glue (depending on how you want to affix your petals), a circle cut out of felt (about an inch and a half in diameter) and a tea light candle

Using an old scarf made of shiny polyester blend, I cut 6 larger 'petals' and 10 smaller 'petals' about 2 1/2 inches in length. They do not need to be perfect. *I cut more than I actually needed.

Using a tea light candle, sear the edges of the petals on the flame of the candle. This will stop your edges from fraying and gives the petal a more flower like edge.

*Please use caution.

When all petals have been seared, start to layer your petals on a circle of felt with about a 1 1/2 inch diameter to build some dimension to your flower. I used a needle and thread to secure the petals but you could easily use a hot glue gun.

This is what the back of your flower will begin to look like.

This is what the front of your flower will begin to look like.

Continuing layering your petals until you get a size you are happy with. My flower uses 3 layers (5 along the bottom, 6 in the middle and 4 on the top) with a total of 15 petals.

When all your layers are complete, use a 1/2 inch by 8 inch strip of matching fabric. Fold the strip of fabric in half and begin twisting and rolling the fabric to create something like this...