How to Make Blue Whale Brooch in the Bead Embroidery Technique

I'm pleased to present this tutorial on beading with Swarovski crystals that is dedicated to the most amazing and graceful, enigmatic and mysterious, the largest inhabitants of our planet — whales!
This DIY shows how to create a brooch with bead embroidery and describes all stages of work — everyone, including freshmen, will easily create such a beautiful and sweet Blue whale brooch.
Take materials and follow me...

Materials:

1. Japanese TOHO beads:

  • 108BD blue, size 11 and 15
  • 176 gray, size 11 and 15
  • PF565 silver metallic, size 11

2. Sew-on Swarovski crystals (drops):

  • 12 mm Light Turquoise (blue) — 1 pc
  • 18 mm Light Turquoise — 1 pc
  • 28 mm Light Turquoise — 1 pc
  • 12 mm Crystal (white) — 1 pc

3. 4 mm round black sew-on rhinestone — 1 pc
4. Pin for brooches
5. Felt, vlieseline, leather
6. Threads (dark gray, light gray, black) and needles
7. Moment Crystal glue
8. Pencil, scissors, paper, cardboard

So, let's begin!
1. Take a piece of grey felt and attach vlieseline with an iron to strengthen the base on which you will embroider.

2. Draw the pattern of the brooch on paper — the whale. Everyone sees the whale on their own, so you can make your own. Cut out and transfer the pattern to the felt.

3. Sew the crystals to the tail, flipper and eye. Blue crystals are sewed with dark grey thread, and the white crystal — with light grey. Black eye, of course, with black one :) You don't need black threads any more, just put them aside.

4. Begin to embroider. First, the belly with grey beads, size 11, use light grey threads.

Embroider the contour of the image with a feather stitch.
Fasten the thread to the back side and pull the needle to the right one, thread a bead, sew it on, go one bead back — this is, pull the needle to the right side to pass it through the sewed-on bead, and only now thread the second bead and sew it, then just go back once again and pass the thread through it again, etc. Thus, the thread passes through each bead twice, so they are fixed firmer and more evenly.

Schematically, it looks like this:

5. Now embroider the whale's back with blue seed beads (size 11), use dark grey thread. Do not embroider the crystals of the tip of the tail and flipper around.

6. Sew a large blue crystal to the back with dark grey threads, and sew two beads in the holes of the crystal.

7. Next, embroider the belly with grey beads along its contour with the same feather stitch. Thus, you reproduce the striped belly of a whale. Fill little gaps — in the corners where size 11 beads can't find space — with size 15 beads of the same colour.

8. Now proceed to the main part of the embroidery — the whole body of the whale. Embroider blue beads chaotically. Sew the beads one by one, each time in a different direction to the previous one, thus all beads look in different directions. Just like with the belly, fill small gaps and corners with 15 size beads of the same colour.

9. The embroidery is ready.



10.
The next step is to carefully cut out the embroidery along the contour leaving 1-2 mm from the edge.

11. Now take a piece of cardboard and cut out the same pattern, but 3 mm smaller; glue to the back side. Hide the seams and knots, make the brooch tighter.

12. ut out a leather blank according to the pattern, it should be 1 mm more for the bach side of the brooch.
Fins the location for the pin.

13. Make cuts and insert the pin.

14. Glue the leather blank with the pin to the embroidery.

15. The final step is to perfect the edge. Use silver beads (metallic), size 11, and dark grey threads.
Needle a double thread so that it had a loop on the other end. Insert the needle from the back side (stitch is about 2-3 mm long) and pass the needle into the loop to fix the thread.
Pick one bead.

Again, insert the needle from the back side, make a stitch at the distance of 3 mm from the previous one, when you pull the needle to the right side, pass it through the bead from bottom to top. Tighten. The bead is fixed with its hole up.

Pick the second bead and make a stitch from the back side just the same way, pull needle to the right and pass it through the bead from bottom to top, then the third bead, etc.


Schematically, it looks like this:

Finish the edge, hide the thread's end in the embroidery.
And that's all! The brooch is ready :)

Thanks for visiting, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!
I will be happy to get any wishes and comments, will reply to all questions :)

Enjoy your creativity, friends!