How to make a double sided, colour changing, popping, magical fan badge, by Kim Smith!
1. Grab your embroidery patterns like these. and pick out TWO of your favourite designs. I tried to keep mine along the same themes, but I think it would be fun if you mixed and matched (I really want to make a Luna and Ollivander's one. haha, they are pretty sweet).
2. Once you've picked your designs, you need to print them out either on transferrable paper or by printing them on regular paper and placing it under your fabric. I normally use a pretty thin fabric so I never have a problem seeing the pattern- but you could hold it up to a window or lightbox to make it easier for yourself. Trace it in pencil, so you know what you're doing. [: (I like to leave a little mark where the end of my circle is)
3. Then you can start embroidering! (If you've never done it before- it's pretty easy, I recommend asking a friend to show you quickly or do a search on google/you tube.)
Because my designs are drawn with a paintbrush and ink, they have a certain 'uneven' quality to them. To keep this you might have to be a bit creative with your stitching, here is a little close up of some text so you can get the idea:
*To make it 'colour changing' without the use of a wand, I've used variegated thread! It comes in a whole range of colours and makes for fun stitching, with slight hue changes. I especially like the black/grey and the orange/yellow. If you don't have variegated thread, try changing up your colours so it looks like it's 'shimmering' if you squint at it! haha (I used a fair bit of plain thread too, as you can see- if I'm using multiple colours in one design)*
Be creative with your thread choice! gold or silver might look good for house badges (I made those stripe patterns, so you could easily use red and yellow for Gryffindor, for example) and a nice menacing green for 'The Dark Lord' or a loud orange for 'YOU KNOW POO!'.
4. Cut out your circular badges and make sure you leave a little room for sewing around the edges. [:
5. You'll need some thread and a little bit of felt. [: I cut out 1 rectangular piece (and folded it in half for the top) and two little ribbion ends in slightly different widths for the bottom.
Lay out your 'front', right side up and place your felt bits on top of it, so nothing is hanging off the edges.
Then line up your back, right side down, on top of your front. You should have a circular pile of fabric, where you can only see the wrong sides of your embroidery...
6. Stitch around the edges- making sure to catch the felt in your stitches as you do this. Don't sew all the way around- leave a little gap so you can turn it inside out!
7. Once you've turned it inside out (below) to make it *POP* like magic, you'll want to 'stuff' your badge with *bubble wrap*! That way, you can make it *POP* when ever you like, and just like a real spell at hogwarts (remember the shamrock hats at the QWC?), it will eventually fade and be less effective. haha.
8. Sew up the ends and you're done! I use a simple safety pin to attach it to my chest proudly!
*You've just made a double sided badge! or- as I like to think of it, a badge that CHANGES when you touch it! haha (like the Support Cedric and Potter Sticks badges!)*
Merlin's Beard! Wasn't that fun! [:
If you've got questions, let me know- I hope that was clear enough.
Kimxo
p.s. I highly recommend grabbing a bottle of butter beer, settling down with your favourite potter movie or wizard wrock album and getting highly excited. It makes the stitching go quicker and the 19th come faster! 10 days!
