Pincushion Tutorial

Last week while on my hands and knees on the floor scooping up pins that were covered with dust and fluff I had a light-bulb moment! I'd seen them before, of course, but didn't fully appreciate they're usefulness. Sewists I admire were wearing them, but I wasn't sold...until I found a cockroach leg attached to the pin in my hand I had just retrieved from under the sewing machine! Enough losing these little buggers and scrambling around trying to find them. I needed a way to keep them safe. And so these pretty little wrist pincushions were born.

What you need to make them: 

• A circle of fabric approximately 12cm in diameter (you can make them bigger if you want a little larger cushion)
• A strip of (contrasting) fabric approx 26cm x 7cm (make them longer if you have very thick wrists!)
• A strip of fusible interfacing a little smaller than your strip of fabric
• Something to stuff your cushion with- I used foamy stuff (!), but you could use old tights, fabric scraps, etc
• 2 strips of velcro (shlick schlack!) approx 4cm long
• A needle and thread of similar colour
• Scissors
• A sewing machine (or not actually!)

What you do: 
(Please forgive the rubbish photography- I didn't realise until halfway through that my camera was on manual focus! They improve halfway through)

Begin with your circle of fabric- it doesn't need to be perfect as you can see!

Fold over the edge of the circle (about 1/2cm) and make a running stitch all the way round, catching in the folded edge and the main circle. (You don't have to have a dirty little left over piece of nail polish on your thumb to do this- it doesn't really help!)

Pull your running stitch tight to create a gathered pouch.

Stuff with anything you can find- old tights, fabric scraps, bits of old t-shirts- I used cushion stuffing.

Pull your stitches tight, closing up hole as much as possible (don't worry if its not completely closed).

Take your strip of contrast fabric (excuse the terrible cutting!)

Iron your strip of interfacing onto the wrong side of the fabric strip.

Fold the strip in half, right sides together and pin.

Sew down open edge (the long side, leaving short ends open).

Turn inside out.

Tuck raw ends inside the tube of fabric and iron.

Sew the short ends closed.

Sew velcro strips onto one end of fabric in a square i.e. sew around velcro.

Sew other piece of velcro onto other end. Make sure you sew on opposite side.

Hand stitch your circle of stuffed fabric onto fabric strip, open part down. Try to get open part of cushion covered by strip.

Sew around in a circle using a small running stitch to secure the cushion onto the wrist band.

This is what the back should look like when you're done. The hole is covered by the wrist band and it is securely fastened.

Ta dah! A finished wrist pincushion.

And a whole lot of others to keep it company. Aren't they pretty?

These are great for using up any scraps you have in the house, those of you who have been to my place know that means a LOT! But mainly, I'm hoping less pins will find their way to my dusty floor, and I'll spend a lot less time on the ground sifting through dirt to retrieve them.
And just to show what a difference they make here are some projects that were completed using these bad boys: 

 

Even the little newcomer found a use for one of them- maybe he can sew after all! (I know I need to stop taking phoots of my cats but they are soooo bloody cute!)

Classes this week:

Tuesday and Thursday 6-8.30pm: Skirt/PJ making-intermediate

Thursday 12pm: Skirt/PJ making -intermediate

Wednesday and Friday: Pattern reading