Basic Brooch tutorial

Hi folks! I'm trying out an experiment with some of the settings on the blog, and trying to do a tutorial on how to do a basic brooch, this could be fun. (or a disaster of unprecedented proportions, leading to the doom of all mankind. But, that's really the worst case scenario, and utterly unlikely. ... I hope)

So here we go. ...

I'm doing a basic brooch for this. The goal is to have a project that takes between 6 and 8 hours for me to finish. (I've learned that students work faster than I do. This makes sense, since they don't see the same errors that I will, and move faster. I'm more deliberate, since I *really* hate pulling out bad stitches.) I will not be doing a demo of how to finish the back. I'll just use some really good glue and a pin back, it will still look great from the front. Or at least that's the plan. 

So, the first picture is of the necessary supplies for the first part of the brooch. you see the cast of characters up above. Here they are as an ingredient list.

• Embroidery scissors
• 4" embroidery hoop (not shown, the inner ring is wrapped in wool, to give it more tooth)
• Brown tightly woven cotton (not a twill, more like cotton sheeting) The color isn't so important, I have about 40 yards of it. 
• Needles: #10 Milliners' needle--it's long, straight, and strong. #9 Embroidery also very strong, good for working with multiple strands of floss. #12 Sharp, my preferred needle for couching. The brand is usually John James, since that's what I'm able to find in my area. 
• mystery DMC embroidery floss, probably ecru, but it could be anything. Since it's for padding under other stitches, I'm not worried about the color. 
• 28 gauge wire, for couching around the shape
• Sulky rayon thread, waxed (heavily, no really, very heavily)
• And optional, tweezers and a tailor's awl for poking and pulling the wire into position. 

In tomorrow's post I'll start getting to work.

Happy stitching everyone!