100 Days on Pins and Needles

Felted Wool Bottle Cap Pincushion Tutorial 

Day 1

Recently I began creating pincushions of different kinds and it came to me that it might be of interest to others to see the many styles of pincushions and needle books there are out there.  With this in mind I have decided to begin a new project of creating 100 different kinds and styles of pincushions and needle books.  My goal is to create one new item every weekday until I have created 100 different ones.  I hope that there will be readers out there in cyberspace that will like to follow along in my journey.

Pincushion #1:  A bottle cap pincushion, a tiny little item that can easily be carried in a small sewing kit, usually created from a recycled plastic water bottle or soda bottle cap.  I decided to make mine a bit larger and use a 2 inch diameter plastic bottle cap from a juice bottle.  I had never made one before so I Googled instructions and found several sites to give me a good basis where to start.

http://www.free-homemade-gift-ideas.com/pin-cushion-patterns.html

http://www.craftstylish.com/item/945/how-to-make-pretty-pincushions/page/all

Using these tutorials I came up with my own pattern and instructions

Here is the materials list and the steps I took to make my own style and size of bottle cap pincushion.

 Materials:

bottle cap ( I used a juice bottle cap that measured approximately 2 inches across)

felted wool or acrylic wool  (I used bits of felted wool)

Polyester fiberfill

thread (you can match your felt or use a contrasting color depending on how you want it to look)

hand sewing needle

small sharp scissors

beads or buttons for decorations (optional)

clear floral stones that are flat on one side ( to add a bit of weight to the pincushion)

jewel glue (make sure it is permanent glue used to adhere beads, rhinestones, etc to fabric)

hot glue gun or fabric glue

1.  Most instructions ask you to cut out a circle.  I decided to place some jewel glue in the center of the cap and then place onto a small square of fabric then I just trimmed around the cap with a small pair of sharp scissors.

2.  Cut a strip of felt to fit around the bottle cap, make sure you cut it about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch wider than the lip of the bottle cap.  Cut it long enough to go around the cap and slightly overlap on the other edge.  You can use a rotary cutter and cutting mat or just use a pair of scissor like I did.

 

 3.  I don't do embroidery so I used matching thread and did a simple whip stitch to attach the strip of felt to the felt on the base of the bottle cap.  The glue on the bottom of the cap helps to hold the base felt in place so all I had to do was to hold on to the edge strip of felt while I sewed around the base.

4.  Stick the floral stones to the inside of the cap with hot glue. This will help to hold everything together when sewing the top of the pincushion on.

5.  Cut out a circle 3 1/2 inches in diameter.  If you want you can decorate your circle with the beads or buttons at this point or you can wait until you are finished making your pincushion.  It is easier to decorate the circle while it is flat but the choice is yours.  I was using beads so I decided to decorate it now.  If you want to do an embroidered design that would look great too.

6.  Sew a running stitch around the outer edge of the circle and pull tight to create a small "cup".  Stuff the "cup"  firmly with polyester fiberfill then tie off your thread.

7.  You can hot glue the top of the pincushion in place over the floral stones, or just hold it in place and stitch the top to the side strip of the cap.

  

8.  Using a hot glue gun with a fine tip point I added a thin line of glue along the edge of the side strip and added some metallic braiding to finish it off.  You could also use fabric glue if you do not have a glue gun or rather not use one.

9.  I decided a few more beads were needed and so I sewed on a few more and then I added 3 usable quilter's pins as an extra decoration.

  

10.  I did a second one and instead of metallic braiding I added pearls that come pre-strung and sold on a spool or by the yard at any JoAnn Fabrics or Hobby Lobby.  I stitched them on taking a stitch between beads using white thread.

These pincushions are fun and easy to put together and would make great gifts.  Decorate them however you like adding beads, sequins, felt cutouts or embroidery, the possibilities are endless and only restricted by your imagination.

I hope you find this tutorial easy to understand and follow.  If you use my directions please let me know and please share photos too, it would be great to see what others are making.