Marlena’s patch-pins

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This DIY was inspired by this year’s patch and pin crazes. I decided to combine the two to create…the patch-pin! These wearable works of art can be made in no time with a few accessible supplies. Whip them up for anyone who appreciates flair.

What you’ll need:

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  • A small remnant of light-colored faux leather or vinyl fabric. Any thick, heavy fabric (like canvas or denim) works for this project, too.
  • A pencil
  • Scissors
  • Fabric paints
  • A paint brush
  • Embroidery thread (I’m using six-strand embroidery floss.)
  • A large needle—one that can sew through two layers of thick fabric easily
  • Bar pins
  • Paperclips

How to do it:

Step One

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Start by sketching patch shapes on the “wrong”/rough side of the vinyl or fabric with a pencil or pen. Cut the shapes out. For this tutorial, I went with a basic circle that I later cut in half. But any shapes—even free-form ones—work just fine.

Step Two

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Whatever shape you choose, be sure to cut out two identical pieces so you’ll have one for the pin’s top and the other as a backing piece.

Step Three

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  1. On the right side of one of the patches, sketch out your design with a pencil. I thought this half-circle would make a nice template for a rainbow, so that’s what I went with.
  2. Fill in the design with fabric paints.
  3. Once painted, set the patch aside to dry completely. Drying time depends on the scale, but it shouldn’t take longer than an hour. While it dries, we’ll start putting together the patch backing.

Step Four

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  1. Grab your backing piece, some embroidery thread, a needle, and a bar pin. Center the bar pin on the backing of the patch. Bring the needle and thread up through the hole on the left side of the pin. Next, push the needle through the hole in the middle of the pin and pull through to the back.
  2. Bring the needle and thread back up again through the hole in the middle of the pin and down again through the hole on the right-hand side of the pin.
  3. Repeat Parts One and Two a second time to secure the pin.
  4. Flip the backing piece over, double knot the thread tails, and snip away the extra thread.

Step Five

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For the final stage of this project, we’ll be stitching the two patch halves together. Grab your needle and thread again.

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  1. Place the front and back patch pieces together, “wrong”/undecorated sides facing each other.
  2. Paperclip the pieces together.
  3. Thread the needle and knot the end of the thread. Poke the needle and thread up through the wrong side of the top layer of the patch, about an eighth of an inch in from the outer edge.
  4. Pull through until the knot hits the fabric. (Note: Do *not* snip away the tail on the end of your thread just yet!)

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  5. Push the needle through both layers of fabric from the underside of the patch, directly next to the spot where you first pulled the needle through in Parts Three and Four. This will create a loop of thread that will cover the raw edges of the fabric.
  6. Bring the needle back around to the underside of the patch and push it through both layers of fabric again, right by the previous stitch you made.
  7. Once you start making progress, you’ll begin to have a thick line of stitching.

Step Six

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Continue stitching all along the outer edges of the patch, keeping the stitches as close to each other as you can get them. Once you end up back where you first started stitching, double-knot the thread tails together and clip away the excess.

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And with that your mini-masterpiece is ready to be gifted!