I’ve been sewing up some pin cushions this week as little testers for christmas (yes, I said it) gifts for some friends and family that like sewing so I thought that I would share the results (so far) with you.

Got a few done and not sure which to go with at the moment, but there’s plenty of time until December the 25th. Mind you, I say that every year and end up scratting around at the last minute every time, lol :)

Putting together a basic square pin pillow/cushion was fairly straight forward, in fact it was much the same as the process used for the bowls and bookmarks of previous Fabric Friday posts so I’ll just give a quick bullet point list of the process that I used, rather than a blow by blow account, and then I’ll share some variations later in this post.

• Cut two equal sized squares of fabric. For these basic squares I used my Sizzix Big Shot and 3.5 inch square die. You could of course use an alternate die cutting system or electronic cutting machine for this.
• Place the two pieces of fabric right sides together.
• Using a 1/4 inch seam allowance sew around the outer edge leaving a 1.5 inch gap.
• Clip the corners.
• Turn right sides out (making sure to poke the corners out well) and press.
• Stuff with stuffing of your choice.
• Slip stitch or Whip stitch or glue the gap closed.

Done!

Here’s the basic one completed.

If you were making to sell, I imagine that you could get a swift production line going on these little things.

Just a note with the one above, I did use some fusible interfacing to give that fabric some body as I initially thought that it would need it, but with later ones I didn’t use it and it didn’t seem to make a huge difference – hence why I didn’t list it in the process above.

Moving on from the basic design, I stitched a button in the centre of the cushion.

Not breaking any creative molds with that one now am I? Lol! :)

Of course, there are plenty of decorative ideas that could be applied to this basic model. Tassels, bows, ribbons etc. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to pop them in the comments section below.

I then looked at patchwork ideas and came up with a reversible log cabin style cushion …

…and side 2…

I then tried a quarter square triangle design.

I think that that one was my favourite of the lot.

Finally, I did go a little bit overboard and made a “giant” pin cushion with a framed fabric panel in the middle.

In all honesty, it’s the size of a small throw cushion and totally impractical as it would take up most of the sewing table, but hey, when you’re experimenting, there are now rules, right?

Before I packed away the sewing machine for the night I also thought that these things don’t need to be square so I quickly whipped up a longer version using strips of fabric.

I quite liked this one. Not sure why, it just made me smile :)

Anyway, I’ll need to do a little more experimentation, especially with decoration, before I settle on the final design but I’m very pleased with the initial results.

Mind you, if I show you the one that I use, (that Debbie Shore made for me), I think that I really need to pull out all of the stops to make something so amazing.

Cute isn’t it?!

Before I sign off I just wanted to share a little tip with you. For the stuffing of these I have been using an unused throw cushion. To avoid the stuffing going everywhere I simply slipped the whole thing into a carrier bag and then snipped a little hole in the top of the cushion and dipped my hand in and pulled out the stuffing bit by bit. It really did save me having to tidy that fluffy nonsense up afterwards or trying to get it back into a packet that it has been compressed into :)

Right, so that’s it from me. What do you think of these? I bet you’ve already had a go at making your own from a pattern or your own imagination? It’s one of the first things that a lot of sewers make as it’s such a manageable size; it also covers more skills than you realize…

If you’ve any questions or comments about this post then please feel free to use the comments section below.

By the way, I’m hopefully working on more bags next week so will hopefully be able to show you that in a fortnight or so.

In the meantime, happy sewing!

I’d better let you get on with your day now.

Thank you for reading again. See you next time.

J :)