Pretty Zipper and Felt Peacock Brooch

I prefer to make my mother something for Mother’s Day. Being a crafty kind of blogger, I think she pretty much expects it. Ha! Anyway, I was doing a post this week on National Zipper Day on my other website, Daily Holiday Blog, when I ran across these amazing looking jewelry pieces made from metal zippers and felt! So I decided to design my own version.

Now keep in mind that I created my own version, so my instructions might be different than, oh say, a professional zipper jewelry designer. So if you happen to be a Professional Zipper Jewelry Designer or PZJD for short, then bear with me as I walk you through the Sitcom way to make zipper jewelry!

For this project I used:

2 ea. 6″ metal zippers
Small piece of white felt (thicker felt is best)
Felt roving in purple and teal (very small amounts)
Felting needle and pad
Low temp hot glue gun (do not use high temp or you will burn the crap
out of yourself!)
Peacock Brooch Pattern
Metal Pin Back
Assorted colored gemstones and beads

 Begin by cutting away the material part of the zippers. I found that the easiest way to do this was to cut off the very end of the zipper, and removing the zipper pull, ending up with two separate pieces.

 Then trim off the fabric so that you are left with just metal zippers. A six inch zipper now is the equivalent of 12 inches of metal zipper!

 Make several copies of the pattern for reference. Cut around the perimeter of the bird (minus the head feathers) to create a pattern to cut your white felt with. Regarding the white felt- If I decide to do this project again, I would use much thicker felt for the base. Most craft stores sell thick felt along with their felt roving. I used regular felt for the base of this project, and I have to tell you that several times I almost threw in the towel. Anyway, use your pattern to draw the bird on the felt and then cut it out. This is your base.

Carefully add hot glue to just the base of a small portion of the zipper and start gluing it down around the outside edges of the felt. Do just a little at a time, being careful not to get glue on the top part of the zipper.

Once the bird is outlined in zipper, add the small zipper heart to the inside.

To create the head feathers, take a portion of zipper and tightly wind it, adding dots of hot glue as you go. (See now why I said low temp hot glue?) Glue the head feathers in place as shown.

 Now for the fun part!! Lets give this bird some personality! Lay the bird on top of a felting pad (or even a piece of styrofoam will do). Pull off a small piece of purple felt roving, lay it in the area that you want to cover, and then start puncturing it with the felting needle.

Be careful not to puncture yourself. Seriously. If you’ve never felted before, you may find the process very cathartic. Imagine the bird is your boss. Ha! The felting process attaches the roving to the felt underneath.

 Just keep punching the needle in and out until it looks the way you would like, adding more roving when needed.

 Use teal for inside the heart. Birdie is looking pretty!

 Add gemstones and beads to make your felt bird awesome. I used touches of hot glue to apply them.

If you used thick felt for the backing, all you would have to do now is glue on the metal pin back to the back of the bird. Since I used regular felt, I needed to make my brooch a bit sturdier, so I cut a bird shaped piece of thin cardboard and glued it to the back first.

 And there you have it! A pretty brooch for Mom!

* You can find felt roving in most craft stores. Regarding the zippers- shop around! Metal zippers are still available in most
sewing stores and at Walmart. You can complete this project for under $10 and have lots of felt left over for more projects!

This project was first shared on Another Cent Saved!

Another Cent Saved was created in order to help you save money by providing you with the best money saving strategies, from couponing to DIY projects.  You need to find a good deal?  How about coupons and great tips?  Laura over at Another Cent Saved has a huge audience of folks that know the value of saving.  And she’s pretty darn cool too!

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