New pincushions
>> Thursday, March 09, 2006
I was so tired of my old red tomato pincushion. I had the same one you see in every sewing store and in discount sewing kits for a long long time. Which is ridiculous because 1. I use one all the time 2. I know how to make a new one and I have plenty of fabric 3. I've been coveting the gorgeous ones made by Craftapalooza (gosh I love her things. Look at this and this.) And 4. I love having beautiful things around me, not tired old tomatos.
So I cut the old tomato up in order to use the filling, and also so I could retrieve a couple of needles that I was sure had disappeared inside. You know how that can happen? Well I shook the sawdust out into a ziplock bag and needle after needle kept appearing. And I plucked them out of the sawdust and put them aside. And they kept falling out! It turns out I had FORTY-FOUR needles hidden inside my old pincushion! Am I the only one that finds that really kind of weird? Yikes. Turns out I don't really care for sawdust as a filler so I threw it out.
These pincushions were made using the instructions in the latest Martha Stewart (yes the one for grownups!). My girlfriend (the same one I just gave the Kates to) has a subscription but doesn't care to keep them, so she gave me her February and March issues. Usually I'm not that interested in the gardening issue because I don't have a garden, but that's the one that has the pincushion instructions because they're shaped like tomatoes.
I did find it a bit more difficult than expected to get the sides smooth. There are a few little puckers here and there. But overall I was very happy with them. I used some fabric that I had bought at the quilter's store while looking for my knitting bag lining. I think small floral prints look best on small items, otherwise they can look a bit busy. This is what I had in mind when I bought the yellow. I'm really loving yellow these days. It's also so nice with blue, especially turquoise.
As you can see, I changed mine a bit so they don't look like tomatoes. They have flowers cut out from wool felt on top with vintage buttons. The bottom sides have vintage buttons too:
And I had a lovely time sorting my pins by colour. Next I'm going to make a blue one and add a strap so I can have it on my wrist and really look grannyish.
10 comments:
I found the 43rd needle while playing with a ziploc bag full of sawdust. The lesson learned: Never play with a ziploc bag full of sawdust.
Love the pincushions! The colors, flowers, and bluttons make it all so yummy. I was also thinking about the wrist type, too. We'll have to compare, or swap.
Really great! I've been meaning to make some of those -- and some of the strawberry ones from an older issue too but haven't gotten around to it yet. I love your take on it though!
Good Job! I've been thinking about making one too!
Eeek. These are fabulous!!!!! Thanks for the compliments *blushes*....maybe we could do a pincushion swap?
Forty-four? Uh, *forty-four* did you say? Geez! Didn't you start to wonder where they were all going when you had to keep buying needles?!? Since I usually have to sew with two kiddies under the age of 4 underfoot, I stick 10 yellow pins, 10 blue pins and 1 needle in my wrist pincusion, and constantly count them... if I'm off, at least I know what to start looking for. :0)
sadly no,I didn't really notice. I'm constantly looking for my thimble/scissors/needles. I keep a lot of pins in the cushion, but only a couple of needles and I just kept thinking I must have put them back in the needlebook. Also, as I mentioned it was a very very old tomato!
I love the strawberries too!
I love the colors - good job! I think I'd start to notice if 44 needles went missing, too!
these are awesome - love the pin colour palettes to compliment the cushions - it's these details that make you sigh each time you use something you've made and love...
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