How to Make a Brooch from an Applique

Brooches that come with pins or clips are super useful for quick dance costuming. 🙂

A few of these can glam up your costume instantly, and the best part is, they are so versatile and you can place them or remove them as you wish!

So in this tutorial, I’ll show you how to make a brooch easily from an applique, particularly for dance costume decoration. Let’s get started! 😀

To make a brooch, you need:

Applique of your choice – You can buy an applique or make one using a kit! I used this one 🙂

Matching color felt – about the size of the applique

Pins – I’m using 4cm (1 ½) in long safety pins and a 6cm (2 3/4in) hair clip here, but of course, you can use brooch pins too! I’ll use safety pins for this tutorial since you probably have some at home already.

Fabric glue

How to Make a Brooch from an Applique

First, place the applique on top of the felt, and trace the outline. Then cut it out.

Then decide how many pins you need and where to place them. If your applique is small and light, 1 pin in the middle may be enough, but mine is large (about 11cm x 11cm or 4 by 4 in), and to secure it over my belly dance costumes, I decided to place 2 pins at sides and the hair clip in the middle like this.

On the felt, mark where the ends of the pins should come out. For the pins, mark here & here, just inside the closure and the loop.

And for the hair clip, mark at the hinge. 

Then at the marks, make tiny snips. Squeeze a pin through them, and make sure the pins are not poking out of the outline of the applique. Repeat for all the pins, and slide in the bottom part of the hair clip.

If anything feels loose, stitch it to the felt from the back side. Again, if you’re using it on a dance costume, it’s better to secure everything!

Next apply fabric glue along the edge and some in the middle, and place it on the wrong side of your applique.

Leave it to dry for 24 hours and your applique brooch is finished! Using the clip, it’s super easy to place it on a costume, and use the safety pins for extra security. One or a few of these will glam up your costume instantly! 

If you’re curious how to make these beaded appliques, check out my DIY Applique Kit shop at SparklyBelly.com/shop! These are actually new colors (white / orange / purple) just added to the shop this week! Grab your favourite design, and make brooches for your upcoming show! Use a coupon code AUTUMN2019 before Sept 29 to get free shipping!

Here are Inara and Kanina and members of the Beledi Dance Company working on their star flower appliques:

They said, “The appliqués are really beautiful and we had a wide range of abilities at the party from never having sewn before to old pros with stitching and it was something we all had fun doing!“

Join us and make your own appliques here!

Next week, You’ll see how to make this sparkly mini skirt overskirt that will spice up skirts that you already have!

If you’re curious, subscribe to my newsletter below so you won’t miss it! 😀 

Click here to sign up for the Sparkly Belly newsletter (BONUS: get access to my FREE course, Belly Dance Costume Making 101!)

Thanks for reading, and keep sparkling!

P.S. Pin this image for your next project!

Like what you read? Want to make more costuming bits yourself?

Sign up for my newsletter here and get my free email course, Belly Dance Costume Making 101!