Weekend Project – Small Scale Pincushions
Sunday, September 26, 2010Pincushions are hot – everyone’s making them, and I admit to having a pincushion obsession myself.
My sewing room is full of pincushions in every size and shape and made from a variety of materials – porcelain doll tops, felt, fabric, knit and crochet, etc.
Many of them have been gifts from fellow stitching friends, and I treasure each one! Here are some of my favorite pincushions you can make from free patterns. 
Jen Segrest at CraftyStylish shares her tips for making pretty embroidered pincushions.
Stitching up a batch of these is such a great way to use up odds and ends of fabric, felt or wool, and embroidery threads!
Basic embroidery stitches were used to decorate the bases and tops – and who would have guessed that the base of these little beauties is a plastic botttlecap!
Woudn’t these look utterly delicious finished as ornaments and hung on the Christmas tree?
Molly at A Foothill Home Companion site features a tutorial for making your own bottle cap pincushion ring. The band is made from elastic, so it’ll fit every stitcher.
This simple ring would be easy to personalize or jazz up by embroidering an initial or flower cluster in the center of the circle using pearl cotton or floss before gathering!
Who would have ever thought a plastic bottle cap could be so useful in the sewing room?
Some stitchers prefer a bracelet or cuff pincushion. This tutorial from Keyka Lou shows you how to make a sturdy cuff with a handy velcro closure.
I recommend using pearl cotton to wrap the top section due to it’s strength.
Also, the sections created when wrapping the thread around the circle are perfect for surface embroidered accents!
Any of these pretty pincushions would make awesome make-ahead gifts!
Happy Stitching!
~Emma
WOW! I have lots of scrap felt so this would be a breeze. Thanks Emma
We did a lot of these in the 70′s in needlepoint. Strange – about a year ago I bought some old crystal salt cellars at a Vintage store, which is what we used, in addition to using silver napkin rings. I’m glad to see this revived!