Pretty Pretty Pincushion

Every year in December our guild has an auction. People donate or make items, you buy tickets and put your tickets in the jar to try and win the item of your choice. I always try to make something as it does support our guild. I had not decided what I was going to make until today.

I stopped in Tuesday Morning (a store like TJ Maxx or Marshall's) and found this cute little dish for $4.99. I have been downsizing my stuff in the house so I walked by and then it hit me. I could turn this into a pincushion.

The opening of the bowl is about 4". I cut out 2 circles, one for a lining to put my stuffing in and the polka dots for the decorative outer part. My circles were about 12" across....this is a little experimental depending on the size of your opening. I wanted mine to go up over the top, if you want yours more flush it could be smaller.

Gather the edges of you lining, fill it full (I used crushed walnut shells at the pet store) and stitch it closed tightly. Use quilting thread doubled so it does not break..

Gather the edges of the outer fabric......

......or not. I found that the only way to get it really tight was to use a rubber band to hold it. I think it could also work without gathering. I then trimmed down the raw edges to make sure it fit inside my bowl.

Next I squirted Tacky glue all over the inside, especially on the upper edges.

Place inside and adjust the filling if necessary and add pins....done!
I  put a bowl on top while it dried to make sure it made contact with all the edges.
This is a fast project. I think it took me less than an hour from start to finish.

Kelly