When it comes to pincushion making, I have a hard time making just one…
Gift sewing is upon us. And even though I can’t always promise punctuality with my gifting, I am a big proponent of the handmade gift. Aside from the obvious, it also beats going to the mall or getting sucked in to the black hole of online shopping…
Having been slightly obsessed with the smallest blocks in my new Everglade pattern, I knew that I wanted to make some everglade pincushions for some friends. These guys are so much fun…and fast…and addictive when using them to explore new fabric pairings.
Directions to make them are included in my new Everglade pattern. As for fabric, I used mostly carkai, except for some of Anna Graham’s Rainwalk fabric in the one below. (Turns out it and carkai are big friends. No surprise.)
My favorite pincushion tip comes from Amanda Jean Nyberg (in this post). She suggests quilting the top panel of your pincushion to enhance the fullness. It’s SUCH a good idea and couldn’t be easier. Just grab a scrap of batting (bonus if you have wool because the lanolin is great for your needles), quilt it to the top panel (I did some basic big stitch quilting for added color and texture) and assemble pincushion as you normally would.
With any gift, it’s nice to have a card, and surely you’re aware of my go-to, but here’s another recent batch using many of my carkai scraps. True to form, everything was dug out of the trash can, which I talk about more in Savor Each Stitch.
Every time I make even the smallest batch of these I’m reminded of what a fun exercise it is in working with what you have and in learning to see things in new ways.
Lovely! I like square pincushions, they sit well.
I WILL be making these… or something similar, with what I have laying around!
LOVE LOVE LOVE the cards! I make quilty note cards, too, and use batting scraps, even! So fun, sew cute, sew sew sew great play therapy! Thanks!