I finally got around to ordering a bunch of brooch pinbacks from Etsy, and I have been having a lot of fun since then. Turns out, everything is better when you can pin it to stuff.

I had some badges laying around that have been fun to play around with adding pinbacks to. All the fun of a patch, and easily switched out when you’re tired of it.

But the best has been using my excessive piles of felt to make new badges. I experimented with a couple of methods and hand-stitches, and now I think I’ve got a technique down. My first badge was in honor of my new home, with mountains, conifers and the ocean on a black background.

From there I’ve played around with some geometric patterns:

I think the second one looks just awesome with this new zipper bag I’ve been working on (yes, of course, the bag is lined with woodgrain-print fabric):

I also tried some needle-felting in the shape of an S for a little monogrammed badge, and then last weekend some friends came by and we made badges together, and I tested out some simple embroidery.

I thought the embroidered “ribbon” would actually be kind of terrible, between my mediocre embroidery skills and the white glitter felt (oh yes),  but it turns out, I sort of love it.

Bonus round: last week I made some felt bows, and, of course, put a pinback on one:

I put another one on a chain, to be worn as a necklace. Y’know, for those bowtie-appropriate events.

What do you think? Got any brilliant badge ideas? Anything you’d like to see in the Etsy shop? Let me know!