Monday, December 28, 2009

Pincushion Tutorial......

....after my long break for the holidays. I didn't mean to be away so long but everything just piled up on me!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that you are still enjoying the holiday season.

I thought I would show you the things that I meant to post before Christmas....like the pincushion that I made for our "Clothesline Club" Christmas party. We decided to have an exchange and bring potluck.

....here are the pics of my pincushion that I made to exchange.....

I had about 2 hours to make one, so I grabbed my container of leftover 1" strips (I save the leftovers just for small projects like this) and stitched 12 of them together. I then trimmed my strips that I had sewn together to a 6 1/2" square.



Do you remember when I showed you how I have been making cake plates from vintage finds? Well....I decided to make a tiny cake plate for this pincushion....as we know....everything looks better on a cake plate!

I chose 3 ric-racs out of my stash....a large white chenille.....
a medium brown velvet (from Riley Blake).....
and a small green.
I topstitched the ric-rac onto the 6 1/2" square with matching thread...I stitched the white ric-rac about 1 1/2" from the edge...
then added the brown ....and last..... the green
.
I really like how the three different textures, colors and sizes of the ric-rac went well together.

Remember this wool /felt that I showed you on a previous post? I bought it at Material Girls while shopping with my BFF Nanette. Don't you just love the luscious colors?
I wanted to add even more texture to my pincushion...so I cut a 6 1/2" square of the light brown for the back and stitched it to the front of the pincushion with a 1/4" seam...(right sides together)
....I left an opening to turn.
I used a funnel to fill the pincushin about half full with silica sand for weight. Silica sand is used in tilework and sandblasting and probably more...I just don't know what...(other than filling pincushions of course!) You can get it at the hardware store, although I get mine from Mr. Honey. He uses it at work for sandblasting.




I cut into more of the wool/felt to make a flower and leaves for the top corner of my pincushion. It's fast and easy...no fraying of the edges of the wool/felt.
I cut 3 circles....these are approximate measurements....red-3"....brown-1 3/4"....white-1 1/4".
I then cut a flower with curved edge petals out of the red circle and a flower with squared edge petals out of the white circle.
I cut 2 leaves out of the green. I stitched veins on the leaves with 3 strands of floss....then I layered everything and stitched them together from the back. I added a blue button in the center of the white flower.
I stitched the flower and leaves to the pincuchion top...hiding my stitches behind the flower.

I stuck a few of Kassidy's heart pins into the pincushion....they look cute in there!



Then I added some ribbon and tule around the pedestal of the mini cake stand after the glue had completely cured.




It's all complete and ready to wrap up for the exchange....


I added a homemade card to wish the recipient of my pincushion a Merry Christmas.





Stay tuned tomorrow for pics of the pincushion exchange.....



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17 comments:

  1. Oh, my, now I'll have to make a pincushion and a tiny cake stand to put it on. Love how your challenge me, Lori! Thanks.

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  2. Very cute pin cushion. I hope the person that got it loved it!Happy New Year!

    Melinda

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  3. I love the added ric rack and wool flowers...oh and that button! Clever on a little cake plate!

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  4. What a wonderful pincushion!! Thank you for all the information on how to make it. And you are correct, everything looks better on a cake stand. But this is just too yummy!

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  5. I love it - I bet the recipient is over the moon !

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  6. Welcome back. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family.
    The pincushions are darling.

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  7. Oh...your pincushion and pedestal for it are so cute...and of course the wrapping is perfect too~! Can't wait to see the other pincushions in the exchanges!

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  8. I always love your ideas. Your pincushion was the cutest ever! I only wish I had been the lucky receiver. Maybe next year!
    Thanks for sharing with us all the beautiful things you do. I look forward to all the wonderful things that you will share in 2010!

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  9. Welcome back Sweet Lori! Good to hear you had a wonderful Christmas! The pincushion is dArLiNg! Bright and cheery!

    Happy New Year!

    Hugs,
    Maryjane

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  10. That is adorable. I'm going to try to make some of those for gifts for my girlfriends next xmas!

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  11. I have just found your blog, I love it .I,m searching around now for tutorials and how to do a small cake stand,
    would I be asking too much for you to leave a comment on my blog about the cake stands---------------cottonreel---I wish you a wonderful 2010

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  12. all design wer so "comel".. i love all off them~

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  13. How I wish I was getting this little treasure. You're right. The little cake plate is wonderful and adds so much...

    Thanks for posting your ideas ... so inspiring. Linda

    I like the felt flower, too. Yummy!

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  14. This is so pretty and happy! I better put you on my blogroll. Don't want to miss the fun and pretty things you make!

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  15. So cute. :o) I am filing this tutorial for sure.

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