Pincushion: Show Me How
Download the instructions here: AllPeopleQuilt.com/ShowMeHowPincushion.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi! I'm Linda Augsburg, Executive Editor of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine. This show me how video is brought to you by the Baby Lock Crescendo machine. And today we're going to make this larger than life pincushion. If you want to download the instructions, including the pattern pieces, you can go to AllPeopleQuilt.com/ShowMeHowPincushion. What you'll need for this project can either be cut from patterns or rotary cut, whichever you prefer. You will need, basically, two fat quarters of fabric. With those fat quarters, you're also going to need some fusible interfacing and a button, coverable button kit that's 1.5" size button. Also, it's handy to have some doll-making needles, those big long needles to put the buttons in the center. And of course some fiberfill or whatever you'd like to fill your pincushion with to fill it. To cut, you're going to cut two 6.5" squares and two circles, and I use the template from the button cover instructions in order to know what size those circles need to be cut. From the other fat quarter, you're going to cut two 12.5" x 3.5" strips. Now, you can either back your fat quarters with your fusible interfacing before you cut or you can cut those same sizes of pieces from your fusible interfacing and then first thing you'll do is fuse all of those pieces to their corresponding piece of fabric. Let's get sewing. So the first step is to sew your two 3.5" x 12.5" strips together with a quarter inch seam allowance to make a tube. Now in the pattern you'll see there's a dot on those two pieces of strip, and you want to trim, make a little notch just about, just shy of a quarter inch in at those dots. And you want to do that both on the top edge and the bottom edge. And those are going to help you turn the corners when you're sewing the top and the bottom in place. You're going to pin the side pieces to the top piece. And here's where that little notch you've cut is going to come in, you can see that opens it up so that I can pin and go around that corner. I'm going to have the seams that I've sewn in the side piece are going to be centered on the side. Pin this strip on the top all the way around and then you'll sew it in place. So I like to start on this pincushion in the center of one of the sides, it just makes it a little easier that you're not starting right at a corner. Coming up to that corner, going really slow right to the tip of the fold, where that quarter inch seam will be, rotating it and I've flipped this over so it's out of the way again and then sewing around that corner. You're going to do the same adding the bottom to this side, the unsewn edge of the side. So now we've turned it right side out, you can see I've still got that opening that I left in the bottom and you're just going to insert your fiberfill or whatever you prefer to fill your pincushions with. So you would go ahead and fill it all the way full and then you would hand stitch that opening closed. Now if you buy a covered button kit that has the actual kit, it'll have a form to press your button into and a form to press and complete your button. If not, there are instructions on the back of the package as to how to do this. But you can see I've backed my fabric with interfacing just to give it a little more body and we're going to press, center and press, that button front, the domed part, into the form. And then we're going to gather up all the edges and put the button back on top. We're going to use the pushing tool to pop that in place. Then you just pop the button out and it's finished. You'll do the same with the other button and then we'll attach it to the pincushion. So for the final step, you're going to use your doll-making needle and again this is a very long needle. I've threaded it with, I've used hand-quilting thread, doubled. Hand quilting thread has a bit of a coating on it so it makes it a little bit stronger for sewing the button on, but you can also use multiple strands of regular thread. You're going to insert that needle right in the middle of your pincushion and you'll carefully come out the back side, then I'm going to slip my button on, go back down through. So now I've got both threads through, I'm going to pick up my button, making sure I don't catch the thread of the button, I'm going to tie a knot between the two threads, I'm going to tighten it and while I'm holding that button down, tie a second part of the knot. That's all there is to it! Much like when you tie a knot on a package, sometimes it's a little helpful to have that extra hand, someone to help you hold that button in place while you tie that knot. If you want to make more of these pincushions, go to AllPeopleQuilt.com/ShowMeHowPincushion. Thanks for joining us!