Friday Finish: Pie Wedge Pincushion and Tutorial

About a month or so ago I parted with one of my sewing machines.  My son Karl wanted one so my Mildred machine went to his house.  Along with Mildred went some other goodies…pins, a seam ripped and a pincushion.   I love helping the kids out and giving them things to start up a sewing hobby.

That did leave me a pincushion short though.  I managed to rectify the situation by making a new one.

I put the scissor in the picture so you could see how big it is.  It’s actually about 7 1/2″ inches across!!

I thought someone would likely ask for a pattern so I just snapped a few photos as I went.  I made it out of a Moda fabric line, Barcelona.  The scraps are leftover from one of the quilts in our new book coming out.

Start out with 4 ~ 5″ squares to of each color.  Draw a diagonal line of two of them.  Sew on each side of the line.

Cut them in half.  Press open.

Lay the pieces out making a pinwheel.  Sew them together.

Grab a plate out of the cupboard that was about the size of the pinwheel and a sharpie marker.  Trace around the plate.

Layer the circle with another fabric and cut out the two circles.

I cut two circles of interfacing and attached them to the top and bottom.  I fill my pincushions with sand and I think it helps the sand stay in the pincushion.

Cut two pieces of contrasting fabric that are 1 1/4″ and some thick string and make piping.  If you haven’t done that before, check out this tutorial to learn how.

Sew the cording onto the top and bottom circles getting close to the string in the cording.

Clip around the edge.

Cut a 2 1/2″ strip of fabric.  Fold over the edge-pin in place.  Sew the strip around the pincushion bottom making sure to keep the needle close to the piping.  When you get to the pin holding the folded back edge continue sewing about 3/4″ more.

Pin the top piece of the pincushion in place.  Sew around the edge again making sure to keep the needle close to the piping.

There will be a hole in side where you folded over the piece and began sewing.  Use that hole to turn the pincushion right side out.  Fill with sand.  Get it as full as you can.  Sew the hole shut.

I used a long needle and two buttons-one on the top middle and one on the bottom middle and sew through the pincushion securing the buttons in place.

There you have it….my new pie wedge pincushion.  It is HUGE.  My daughter Kalissa told me I shouldn’t loose that one in my messy sewing room.  So true…it’s 71/2″ across and I love it!!

We’ll be hooking this pincushion up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts, and Link a Finish Friday.