wrist pin cushion tutorial

Thanks for all the nice comments about my wrist pincushion. So I've put together this little tutorial so you can make your own. Hopefully you will be able to follow my directions (this is my first tutorial), if you have any questions I'm happy to help so ask me any questions or tell me it doesn't make any sense!. I haven't included measurements as it will vary depending on what size lid you use, but hopefully all the photos are clear enough on their own. Lets get to it.

You will need:

Some small pieces of fabric for the top and bottom of the pin cushion.
A jar lid

Some elastic, around 2.5 - 3cm wide

Stuffing, wool or fiber fill

A small length of ribbon or braid

I have used a lid from a jar of olives it measures 6.5cm in diameter, but a slightly bigger or smaller lid would work just as well. Place your lid on the fabric you have chosen for the bottom part of the pincushion. You need to cut a circle from the fabric that is about 3 cm larger than the lid. Place to one side. (the circle of fabric doesn't need to be perfect we are going to gather it up soon to cover the lid)

Next we need to cut a casing for the elastic wristband. Place your lid on the fabric and cut a similar shape to the one in the photo above.

With an iron turn over and press all the raw edges. Check that the size that you have pressed it to will fit the underside of the lid, so if your lid is 6.5cm in diameter this piece should measure approximately 6cm and no more than 6.5cm.

Pin it to the circle of fabric that you cut earlier.

Stitch on both of the short sides. Check that the elastic you have fill fit through the space that you have sewn, with a bit of room to spare.

Now we need to gather up this circle. Sew a running stitch around the edge ( just as if you were making a yo yo or Suffolk puff). Pop the jar lid in the middle and then pull the thread up to cover the lid. You should end up with something like the picture above. You need to pull this quite tightly and then secure the thread. That is the base part finished.

Pop the base part down on the fabric you have chosen for the top of the pincushion and cut out a circle. This needs to be about 3 - 4cm larger than the base all around. Again the circle doesn't need to be perfect as we are gathering this up too.

Ok, just like the base. Sew a running stitch around the edge and pull gently to gather up. Once it's a little bit gathered stuff it with your chosen stuffing material. I've used wool. Once it's stuffed nice and firmly secure the thread and cut off.

Now we want. to stitch the top to the bottom, stitch it all the way around. Don't worry about your stitches too much as the braid will cover it.

Sew on the braid or ribbon, folding over the edge to create a neat finish (ok like I can talk, look at that messy stitching of mine). That is the top part all finished, now on to the elastic wrist band.

Cut a length of elastic to fit around your wrist, allow a little bit extra as a seam allowance. Then we need to cut some fabric to cover the elastic to create a casing. It needs to have a small seam allowance on either side and it needs to be one and a half times longer than the elastic.

Sew the seams on either side (or on one side if you can cut the fabric on a fold). Turn so the right side is on top. Thread the elastic through the casing leaving the elastic showing at each end.

Thread the wristband through the casing created at the bottom of the pin cushion.

Overlap the elastic and with a wide zigzag stitch, stitch several rows to secure the elastic.

Pop one end of the casing over the other and stitch in place, this will cover the ends of the elastic.

Put the part that you just stitched under the casing at the bottom of the pin cushion. You can then stitch it to the casing but I have found that it just stays in place. Add some pins, pop it on your wrist and you are done! Phew! Hope that was easy enough to follow. Please do let me know if you have any questions, or let me know if you make one I'd love to see it.

silver

I've been getting into the Christmas spirit over the last week ( early I know but the shops are filled with Christmas stuff now so it's ok to start blogging about it right??). I've been crocheting little stars and decorations from some sterling silver wire. The little round baubles have a vintage crystals sewn on the middle of them one on each side. The little crochet trees are made from some natural cotton, stuffed with natural sheep's wool and embellished with some vintage mother of pearl buttons from my collection. I hope to list some in my etsy shop over the coming days and I've been asked to include some in an exhibition at my local art gallery! So my fingers

have some busy days ahead.

Have you started any Christmas projects yet? I'd love to hear about what you are working on.

warm

It's been very warm around these parts this week, it really does feel as if Summer is arrived. My nana picked me a bunch of very warm looking flowers from her garden for me. They worked in well with these stones that I've just finished off, a few requests from friends. My camera wasn't really doing a good job at picking up the warm colours however and trying to warm it up has turned it kind of magenta, you'll have to trust me when I say they look much better in real life.

Happy weekend my friends.

sushi rut

I'm feeling like our night time meals are in a bit of a rut. I seem to be sticking to the same few meals and I'm starting to feel like I need to try something else. The one meal though that we all don't mind eating week after week (sometimes twice a week) is homemade sushi. I'm sure sushi purists would probably turn their noses up at what I turn out of my kitchen, but it's the one meal I know every plate will be left clean. The best part is how quick and easy it can be prepared and how simple the ingredients are too. I'm glad we are in a sushi rut.

I love to eat my sushi from this plate which is a Crown Lynn one, a thrift find. I've found three of them over the past year, two bread and butter plates and one dinner plate, I'm sure there must be more out there to find!

envy

I love watching project runway, the pressure, Tim Gunn and of course the trips to Mood! This season I have noticed a lot of wrist pincushions and growing envious of such a cool sewing accessory decided to work out how to make one. I used a metal jar lid for the base part (I'd hate to prick my wrist with pins every five seconds) and scraps of this and that for the rest of it. It's stuffed with wool and seems to be a great addition to my sewing essentials - once I stopped reaching for my regular pin cushion - OK I haven't quite stopped reaching for my old one, but old habits die hard.

Interested in making your own? I'm thinking of doing a tutorial for these in the very near future.

green + a recipe

My friend bought over a big bunch of flowers for me from her "snowball" tree on the weekend. They are brightening up my kitchen bench at the moment and make me smile when I look at them. They are being kept company with a casserole dish that was a birthday present. It's sole purpose is to collect kitchen scraps for our compost bin. I was using an empty ice cream container that I'd whip away when guests arrive, it was also causing trouble with the youngest member of the household as he thought it was ice cream there just waiting for him. Now on to the recipe, I've been making these biscuits for quite a few weeks now, a batch a week. They are oaty and disappear quite quickly. Yum!

Oat Biscuits

125g Butter softened, 1/2 Cup Sugar, 2 Tablespoons Honey, 1 Cup Flour, 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder, 1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon, 1 1/2 Cups Rolled Oats.

I also add around half a cup of dried fruit eg diced apricots or nuts walnuts or pecans or chocolate chips. This is just my addition mainly to use up a few little bits and pieces that have been floating around my pantry waiting to be used. Feel free to leave these out.


Preheat oven to 180oC. Cream butter, sugar and honey together. Sift flour, baking powder and cinnamon together. Add the sifted dry ingredients and rolled oats to the creamed mixture, mixing well. Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls and place on oven tray. Flatten slightly with a fork, bake for 15 minutes or until golden. These biscuits spread little if at all so feel free to place them close together on the tray.

(I've actually started decreasing the amount of sugar the more of them that I've made, especially if I'm adding dried fruit to the mix)

enjoy!

i heart you

I haven't really found the inspiration to get back into this space. It has taken a long time to get over the tummy bug that swept through our family, and life at the moment seems oh so very busy. It is my hope that I'll get back into some more regular blogging very soon. I've got many a work in progress to share and some ideas for the festive season too. Till then xx

I've signed up for the Christmas Ornament swap over here, have you?

green

There has been an abundance of green around here, well an explosion really. I wish I had one of those fancy time lapse cameras and could show you the changes in my garden over the last week. The fig tree has gone from having no leaves to lots unfolding, pea seeds have changed into seedlings and the strawberry plants have loads of flowers that I hope will turn into big juicy strawberries before I know it.

The weather has been fantastic this week, but we haven't been able to enjoy it much. The nasty tummy bug that was going around preschool seemed to have waited till the holidays started before it caught up with us. It has left no member of the family untouched so it's been a very long week. Hopefully next week will be a better one and I can share a few of the new things I've been working on.

Happy weekend!