How To: Mushroom Pin Cushion

This simple project will probably take you less then an hour to complete.  I made it because I have been wanting a large pin cushion with a weighted bottom for my sewing room.

YOU'LL BE NEEDING:

 

1. Sturdy woven fabric of your choice, something cute and not stretchy

2. A sharp pair of scizzors

3. A plastic lid from something... salsa, hummus, sour cream, you get the idea.

4. A cylindrical container for the base.  Almost anything will work here.  I used a ceramic one made by my talented sister.  I like it because its lovely and it has some weight.  You could go for a cute rustic look with a tin can with some gravel inside.  Or a little wooden log.  Use your imagination.  As Chef John would say... you're the boss of your sauce.

5. Some yarn, I ended up using two colors but this is optional

6. A Needle and Thread

7. Some Poly fill

8. A Compas

DO IT:

Using A compass, approximate a circle with a radius about two and a half times that of the plastic lid.

 Now draft a circle on the wrong side of your fabric.

 Snip snip.

 

Put some poly fill on the bottom side of the plastic lid.  IMPORTANT! Use about 2 or 3 times as much as I did.  I had to go back and do this again because the stuffing wasn't dense enough and the pins didn't stay put.

Stretch the fabric around the lid and secure in back with a few stitches.  The fabric should feel tight.

Now fold over the other side of the fabric and secure with a few more stitches.

At this point I shoved a little bit more stuffing into the corners, just for good measure.  Pull catty-corners together at the back and secure with a few more stitches.

Do this again.

 

Now keep stitching the back, stretching the edges toward each other with the thread until you have all the ends tightened and stitched to the middle and it looks like this:

 Next you'll get your yarn and the base.

Wrap the top part of the base with yarn 10-12 times with yarn,  The more haphazard the better here.

 Tie a little knot and tuck in the ends.  Best to tie the knot toward the top, like it didn't do here.

 

Next you're going to stitch the mushroom top onto the base using the first few strands of yarn as an anchor.  Do it like this:

 All the way around now.

For this last step I used another color yarn but you could use the same one if you want. 

Wrap the top rim of the base with more yarn to cover the stitches. blend it down into the existing yarn.

Tie a knot and hide the ends.  Guess what? You're done!

Try it out, if you do, send pics to elizzaruth@gmail.com and I'll share them here! Thanks for reading.

Always
elizzaruth