wearing jewellery

In the winter I was wearing my brooches on my knitted sweater, sweater vest, or coat.  Now it's summer and I wear a button shirt.

How do I wear a brooch on a woven shirt without it making permanent holes?  

r ranson wrote:In the winter I was wearing my brooches on my knitted sweater, sweater vest, or coat.  Now it's summer and I wear a button shirt.

How do I wear a brooch on a woven shirt without it making permanent holes?  

A few of things help here:
1. Select your brooch carefully. Smaller (less weight to put drag on the fabric), thinner pin (smaller holes). Pay close attention to how well formed the point is; if it’s rather rounded, it’ll punch a bigger hole, and if it’s got any roughness it’ll create friction tears in the threads.
2. Remove said brooch as soon as you take the shirt off. Shorter wear time = less thread distortion.
3. After taking off the brooch, use your thumbnail to kind of gently scrape over the holes, pushing the threads back into alignment.
4. Fabric that has thicker, but not super tightly woven, threads will tolerate brooches better. Linen is great for this. Never put one on a fabric with very fine threads, especially if it’s made of rayon. Those holes will remain there until the end of time.
5. Be intentional in putting on your brooch. This can be easier to to if the shirt is not on your body yet, so you can get the fabric in a good light and close enough to see the threads. Set the pin into a space in the weave, not through a thread. Follow the threads over and exit the underside through the same threads, again being careful to pierce the space, not the threads. (This also helps it sit straight!)

I’m a bit of a magpie and love all the sparkle, so I do wear jewelry. Two sets of earrings, plus one additional on the left, two rings on each hand, and often a necklace. When doing physical work (as opposed to the tech work I do for my day job), I still wear the earrings but generally not the other stuff.

I'd add one thing to Shawn's post above, If you can, put another piece of fabric behind the brooch, so the pin has more cloth to hold onto and support it. Keeps more delicate fabrics from ripping out.

I helped a lady get dressed for a very formal affair where she had lots of badges etc to wear, and she had on BEAUTIFUL silk. The heaviest went into her bra underneath, the lighter ones went through the silk, into cotton ribbons to help support it all. Her silk survived a hard night, despite a lot of pins.  I also used a nail file to sharpen the tips of the pins, and placed them very carefully, and as Shawn said, into the spaces without breaking any more weave than I could help.

These are great tips.  Thank you.  I especially love the idea of a ribbon on the back.  

r ranson wrote:These are great tips.  Thank you.  I especially love the idea of a ribbon on the back.  

If you can do something like pin the ribbon to the shoulder seams, it helps spread the weight more.

One more thought, the way I often wear them, I gather the fabric for an effect then put a brooch on it. I put a safety pin in as the structure of the gather, then put my pretty brooch on in the best way to hold it safely, which is usually not strained by holding gathers.  I treat my jewelry well. I like it, and am sad when things break.

On that thought, broken brooches often can be put on a necklace....