Eclectvity

Ok, it’s a lie.  I confess.  I hardly use pins, don’t like them, and find the whole thing a bit of a nuisance.  However, needles need a home and so I made this “needle cushion” for my new Craft Nook  (blog forthcoming).

Ingredients:

Ice Cream Dish-  Purchased for $1.50 from Rite Aid in their “Dollar Dayz” type aisle.

Steel Wool-  I used super fine.  This is to sharpen your needles as you put them away.

Fabric-  I used a piece that’ll match my duvet cover and my Roman shades since this corner is in my bedroom.

Thread-  Lorna kept bringing me more “fun” colors, but I stuck to plain white.

Button- Purely ornamental and therefore, optional.

Alene’s Tacky Glue-  Or any other craft glue to keep the cushion stuck to the bowl.

Directions:

First, assemble your ingredients.

Draw a circle on your fabric.  I used a salad plate… at first.  Use a DOUBLE thickness of fabric so the steel wool doesn’t come through.  Cut out the circle.

Sew a running stitch all around the edge of the circle.

Shred the steel wool pads to look more like polyfill stuffing.

Stuff  “steel fill” in the circle and draw up around it into a fat ball.

Sew on the button…

Isn’t it cute!

Try it out…

At this point, I thought it was a little small in there.  So, I cut out another circle the size of a dinner plate.  It was a little too big, but I stitched around it a bit until I got it fitting nicely enough.  Then I grabbed the trusty glue…

Swirl some around in the bowl… keep it low enough that it’ll hold the cushion without showing above it though!

Pop the cushion in, put something heavy on it for a bit, and voila!  A very inexpensive pin cushion.

Now you can do this with any kind of dish or container.  It’d work great with a tea cup, sundae cup, old tiny varnish can (clean well though)… seriously, anything small enough not to be cumbersome that is closed on bottom and sides but open on top will work!

No, this isn’t the most adorable  pin cushion on the planet.  You can buy boutique quality pin cushions that are absolutely stunning.  But, if you want something cute, to match your decor, and in a next to nothing price range, this’ll do the trick!