Jill loves butterflies. She is getting married in a butterfly garden and is using them in her wedding theme. She also loves vintage jewelry (her engagement ring is a vintage piece!), and wants to have a vintage look to her wedding. I decided that the perfect closure for Jill’s jacket was to find a vintage butterfly brooch.
I combed through Etsy and Ebay looking for one that was the right size and the right colors and the right feel for Jill’s jacket. Once I narrowed it down to my favorites, I delved a little more deeply into the sizes listed in the descriptions and cut them out of paper “to scale”. I made sure to notate which site and item it was on the back of each cutout. This enabled me to see, regardless of how pretty the design and colors of each brooch was, which was the best fit in size and shape. My favorite one was actually eliminated because it was just too small aesthetically for the closure. Through this process, I narrowed it down to my three favorites, which surprisingly were all on Ebay.
Ebay is tricky because you have to bid on your items and wait and see if you won. This can add extra days and anxiety to the search and, in this case, my new top choice was not the first auction to close. I decided that, since all three were relatively inexpensive, I’d bid on them all. I wanted to use one in the veil as well, and they were all beautiful. I won my top two auctions, and was extremely happy with the results. As soon as I opened the first package, I knew it was “the one.” The shape and size was perfect, the colors and stones worked amazingly well with the fabric, and the copper metalwork will accent Jill’s red hair beautifully. The second brooch was also perfect to perch with the flowers on Jill’s birdcage veil.
Home run!
