Make a Pincushion Tutorial: Welcome to the 146th Metamorphosis Monday!

Greetings! How has your weekend been? I hope you've had a fabulous one! I spent Saturday down in Macon, Georgia with my sister and niece at the Christmas Made in the South Fair.  Mark Ballard was there and it was so good to stop by and chat with him a bit.  Did anyone else go to Christmas Made in the South?  It was packed with folks as you can see in this pic below.

Make a Pincushion!
A few weeks ago, I attended an amazing crafting event.  During this fabulous crafting soiree, one of the crafts we made was an adorable pin cushion.  I was thinking today about what a cute Christmas gift it would make, especially if it were tucked down inside a little sewing box.

Today I created another one and took pics along the way in case you would like to make one for yourself or a friend.  To make your pin cushion, you'll need:

Poly fill
Jar lid (medium size lid works well and you can spray-paint your lid if you like)
Embroidery thread or narrow yarn
Embroidery needle
Scrap fabric
A button that looks pretty with your fabric

Do you recognize my scrap fabric?

It's some of the fabric that was left over from when pillows were made for the dormer window seats...

...located in the upstairs family room.  It's also the same fabric that's on the chairs in this room.

To make your pincushion, you'll want to find a glass or some round object that's a little bigger than your jar lid. I used a La Rochere bee glass.  I placed the glass over the lid to see if it was a little bigger than the zinc lid.  Max inspected and declared it to be the right size.

 Next, using a pencil, draw around the glass onto the "back" side of your fabric, twice.  Cut out both pieces/circles of fabric.

Here's how my fabric circles looked in comparison to the size of my lid.  My lids were 3 inches across at their widest, and the fabric circles measured around 4 inches.

Sew the pieces together with the "right" sides of the fabric together.  Cut a little slit in one side, being careful to NOT cut through to the other piece of fabric.  Turn your cushion inside out where the "right" side of the fabric is now facing outward.  Stuff it with a generous amount of the poly fill.

Here's how it looked stuffed.  I didn't do the greatest job of making it perfectly circular, but don't worry, it will all work out fine in the end.  Perfection is not a requirement for this craft. :)

Thread your embroidery needle, knotting it on just one end.  I used the full thickness of the embroidery thread, which was all six threads.

Stitch up the little slit.

All sewn up.  My pin cushion looks more square than circular here, doesn't it?  lol

Okay, getting to the good part.  Next take your needle and insert it through the dead center of the back of your stuffed cushion.

Bring it out the center of the top and loop it over one side.

Stick it back through the center of the back and pull it through the top center again

...looping it over the section of your cushion that is directly opposite from the loop you made the first time.  Pull the thread tight enough to make your cushion a little poofy.

Do the same thing again, but on opposite sides of the cushion.

This divides your cushion into four equal parts.  Again, pull your thread taunt enough to make your cushion poof up a little, as shown below.

I chose to divide my cushion into 8 equal parts.  You could do just six, if you like.

Here's how it looked on the back when finished.

And, here's the front.  You can adjust the little pieces of thread to make your poofy sections more equal in size.  I kept stopping midstream to take pics so I didn't do the greatest job of pulling my thread taunt each time.  Yours will look more consistent if you're not stopping a lot.

Here's how it looked inside the lid.

I dumped out the buttons from my button jar and tried different buttons on top.

I ultimately went with this cute little kitty cat button.  Predictable, right?  lol  Once you have sewn your button onto the center of your pincushion, you can hot glue your cushion into the lid.  My cushions fit snugly enough that I didn't have to glue them in.  They stayed in just fine on their own.

You'll find the old Ball zinc lids on eBay, without the jars.  Just search for "Ball Mason Jar Lids." I love these two lids.  They still have the old writing on them.  One says, "Plum 1934" and the other one says, "Apple Butter -75." :)

This little pin cushion is super easy to make and very forgiving if you make a boo boo along the way.  You saw my cushion didn't look that circular, but in the end, it looked just fine once it was inside the lid.

Imagine tucking it inside a little sewing box or kit as a holiday or shower gift for a budding seamstress...or even a seasoned seamstress. :)   Happy sewing!

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