Faux Cathedral Window Pincushion - Day 14 on Pins and Needles

Sorry for the break in blogging.  I had surgery almost 2 weeks ago and as much as I tried to get ahead it was just not possible.

Today I bring you a lovely little pincushion design that is fast and easy to make. The tutorial calls for 8 different fabrics but I made mine using only 2 fabrics for a more traditional cathedral window block look.

Faux Cathedral Window Pincushion

The tutorial calls for machine sewing the turned edges but I chose to hand stitch mine along with adding a shank button on top and a regular 4 hole button on the bottom.  This little pincushion is fast and fun to make and a great way to use up scraps of fabric from other projects.

Hope you enjoy this tutorial and I hope to keep bringing you some really fun projects every week.  If you drop by leave a comment and share any pincushion ideas you may have.

Picture Frame Pin Cushion - Day 13 of 100 Days on Pins and Needles

I have several empty picture frames lying around and this project seemed a fun way to use them to create something for my sewing space.  If you don't have any frames a quick trip to your local Dollar Store could fix that inexpensively, which is what I did to give this project a trial run.

Picture Frame Pin Cushion

The one in the tutorial was painted with acrylic paint but I used a small silver frame that I purchased at the Dollar Store to try out this project.  This is a project that you could do with a vintage frame and it can be set up as a display piece or lay it flat and use it when you do handwork.  It can be made using a large or small frame and embellish it with beads, buttons or other trinkets glued on the frame or sew them onto the pincushion edges.  It is an easy to do pincushion idea that required no sewing and the way I made mine I didn't even use any glue.

I used my silver toned frame that reflects the color of items around it and added some decorator fabric for the pincushion area.  I folded a small piece of polyester batting to just slightly larger than the opening of the frame.  I then layered the decorator fabric over it, centering the design I wanted to focus on.  I then pushed the batting through the opening to create the "pincushion" part, cut the fabric the size of the frame and tucked it into the frame edges and then slipped the back of the frame into place.  It may take a bit of effort to get the frame backing on because the fabric makes it a tighter fit, but it was great because I didn't have to glue or sew anything.

If you have a special frame you don't want to throw away find some fabric that works with it and make a pincushion.  Give it as a gift or display in your home, the possibilities are endless.

If you drop by to check things out please leave a comment and share any ideas you have.  May you frame your road down "life in the craft lane" with lots of memories.

Tomato Pincushion - Day 8 of 100 Days on Pins and Needles

I have featured a variety of pincushions but today I thought I would showcase one that is a very traditional design. Some of us may remember our mothers or grandmothers having a similar pincushion in their sewing box full of pins and needles as they hand stitched a hem or even a quilt.  Many of us may have one like it ourselves or have even made one for ourselves.  In my collection this was one of the designs that I did not have so I decided that it was one I had to give a try.

I found a super simple "Martha Stewart"  pattern with a video tutorial using a piece of rectangular fabric cut on the bias.

Martha Stewart's Homegrown Tomato Pincushions

I made mine using scraps of green cotton flannel, but I did not cut on the bias and still got a nicely finished pincushion.  The star shape leaf section is cut out freehand using felted wool and finished off with a rust colored button.  The pattern calls for gluing the star shape leaf section on the top but I decided to use a long doll needle to stitch mine in place using the button to finish it up.  Using fabric cut on the bias would probably give you a smoother finish to the sides since it would have more "give" but I think mine came out nicely.

You could add some crushed walnut shells, decorator sand (found in craft stores in the floral section) or plastic pellets (found in a craft store and used for dolls, pillows or toys) to the base of the pincushion to give it some weight.  Add an emery filled strawberry to sharpen dull needles and you have a complete old fashioned looking set.

This pattern is an easy to do project even for a beginner.  It would make a great Girl Scout project or even a school project, of course since the use of a sewing machine is required it would be best to do with some adult supervision.

I hope that you enjoy this post and will give this pattern a try to create a variety of tomatoes in assorted sizes to fill a basket and display in your sewing room or even in your kitchen.  If you drop in to take a look, have a question, suggestion or if you decide to create your own please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Doll Pincushion - Day 7 of 100 Days on Pins and Needles

I had to take a break from my quest to find and make a variety of pincushions and needle books due to family illness but now I am back to searching the web for new designs.  I will continue to search out new designs and will post what I find every Monday instead of daily.

I found this pattern in a Family Circle Magazine many years ago and made copies of the pattern for future use.  A few years ago I needed a gift for a Secret Santa exchange and I decided to make  this cute little design for a quilting friend of mine. The picture above is the one I gave to my friend.  The pattern called for the doll to wear a straw hat but I decided to give her a funky hair style and tie it up with a bow.

I spent the last 2 days searching the internet for a similar pattern without success.  The pattern I have is from 1993 so I have not been able to find anything on the web that even comes close to the design I used.  The closest thing I could find was a Half Doll Pincushion made with a porcelain figure.

Half Doll Pincushion

There are various places to purchase the half doll figures such as Ebay, Etsy or Amazon.  Some can be quite pricey but another option that I found on a YouTube video is a Barbie Doll Pincushion using a Barbie doll with the legs removed for the doll portion. I have included the link to the YouTube video, but as it is with many home made how to videos, this one is very slow moving and one needs to be very patient with the maker.

I hope that you join me next week to see what I find and over the next few weeks I will try to work up a pattern for today's featured design.

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.