The standard red pin cushions everyone used in the 1950's and 60's are long gone. You can make fun, decorative pin cushions in shapes of food, animals, flowers and pillows. Using basic fabrics and ornaments you may have around the house, you can make functional pin cushions as gifts.
Things You'll Need
- Fabric or felt scraps
- Uncooked rice, beans, sand
- Thread
- Circular template
- Stuffing (cotton or polyester batting)
- Decorative ornaments (beads, buttons)
- Fabric marker
- Sharp embroidery needles
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Decide on design. To make a standard, circular pin cushion, mark 1 inch wider than circumference of your circular template on fabric ,using a fabric marking pencil. Cut 2 circles of fabric.
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Decorate 1 circle with buttons, beads or other decorative items. Sew 2 circles right side together, leaving an opening large enough to fill with stuffing.
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Fill circle with enough batting or stuffing to make it as full as you want. If you're making a pin cushion in the shape of something, such as a cupcake, and there are 2 separate pieces, fill the bottom with uncooked rice, beans or small pebbles to weigh it down.
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Sew an invisible slip stitch along opening. Sew decorative stitches on top using different colors of embroidery thread or floss.
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Tie up in box with matching bow to give as a gift or insert pins and begin to use it to sew.
Tips & Warnings
- You can mix batting with saw dust or sand so that pins stay in fabric better
- Cardboard makes a good template that can be shaped and covered with fabric (use glue gun to adhere)
- Use bottlecaps as bases, covering the top of the cap with fabric.
- Polyester blend batting holds pins better than 100% cotton batting
