Plastic Canvas Challenge: Mini DIY Pin Brooch

I am so pleased with this little DIY pin brooch! Anytime I make something I will actually wear, I am a happy camper. This is an easy craft and it doesn’t take too much time. You can definitely finish it during an episode of your favorite show. So put on your fave show and let’s get started!

Supplies needed to make your own DIY pin brooch:

• 1 Sheet of Plastic Canvas
• Plastic Canvas Yarn
• Needle (I used a cross stitch needle but these special plastic canvas needles might be easier!)
• Pinback
• Scrapbooking Embellishments (like pearls & gems, flowers and buttons!)
• Scissors
• Hot Glue Gun

Step 1: Cut a square of plastic canvas 1.25inches x 1.75inches.

Step 2: Cut a slit directly in the middle of your square (should be five spaces from the side). The slit should go up about three spaces.

Step 3: Begin stitching using this chart. I created a fishtail pattern by starting my stitches from under the canvas and moving the stitches over by one box to the left (versus just stitching straight up in the box you started in).

Step 4: To create row 2, you do the exact same method but switch to moving the stitches over one box to the right.

Step 5: After you do Row 1 & 2, start over with the stitches you did in Row 1. You should have a pattern repeat every two rows.

Step 6: I didn’t like the plastic canvas showing on the edges of my DIY pin brooch, so I finished the edges off with a straight stitch. I just started at the bottom and stitched up with a regular straight stitch. The only special thing to do is to cover two rows with each stitch. That way it matches the fishtail pattern.

Step 7: The stitching got a little tricky at the bottom of the flag shape. So I just stitched towards the inside of the shape and made sure to cover as much of the canvas as possible. No fancy technique, just figuring it out as I went along. I also used hot glue to keep some of the yarn in place because, as you can see, some of the boxes got cut up a bit when I first cut the shape out.

Step 8: Hot glue the pin back to the back of the canvas. I took this opportunity to glue down any stray yarn. (Any time I started a new piece of yarn during the stitching, I just tied it off in the back. When I got done, I cut all the knots and glued the yarn down for a smoother finish.)

Step 9: Glue an embellishment to the front of the DIY pin brooch.

Voila! What do you think? Plastic canvas projects can be time consuming so I was very pleased that this DIY pin brooch doesn’t take long and it is so cute! You could make these DIY pin brooches in a variety of shapes – they would be perfect for gifts.

Click the image above for more Plastic Canvas Challenge entries!

Katie

Katie is the creative mind behind lemonjitters.com, a blog dedicated to all things crafty. Her interests are ever-changing and currently include: kitschy kitchen timers, digital design, eating lots of chocolate and paper crafting.