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There is much going on in the greater outer world. Much that makes me sad and a few things make me proud. Here in the community diaries we focus away from the politics. We aren’t pretending the issues don’t exist, we’re just taking a bit of a break from them.
Today’s project isn’t a quilt. It is a lovely accessory: A teacup pincushion.
A friend made a few of these teacup pin cushions and I rather liked them. They are very easy to make and you can embellish them as you see fit. There are several variations on how to make these. Below is the one I used. It is primarily from a UTube video by Debbie Shore. I didn’t do the embellishments as I thought the tea cup lovely as it was.
You begin with a tea cup. Or you could use a mug. Whatever you want that is round (maybe wine glass??). I have a few nice tea cups from antique stores that I like. The one I decided to use is small. I have several larger pincushions, so I wanted a slightly smaller one. The diameter of the top of the cup is 2 3/4”.
To make the pincushion top you need a fabric circle two times larger than the diameter of the tea cup. Just to make for simple math, I used 6”. I also had a plate that size so it worked out well.
I chose some possible red fabrics, as I decided I wanted pincushion to be red. I arranged them around the tea cup. My hubby NormAl and I decided on the red with small lighter red roses.
I cut a 6” circle using the plate as a template.
Next I did a basic running stitch around the outer edge about ¼ inch from the edge. Because you are going to gather this, it is best to use a strong thread. I used a heavy duty quilting thread.
Debbie has a slightly different aspect at this point to some of the other instructions / videos I saw. She suggests cutting the last 4 — 5 inches off a knee high hosiery and doing your original stuffing of the fiberfill in there. I liked that idea as you will get a tighter, more compact ball.
I stuffed the stocking and folded it over so the opening was tucked underneath. I didn’t want any stocking seams towards the top.
Then I drew the fabric circle mostly together and put the stuffed stocking inside and then drew it as closed as I wanted it. It works best if the ball is fairly tight. Tie it off however you’d like. I used a bow tie here in case later I want it tighter or looser.
Now it is time to just plop it into the tea cup. Most directions tell you to put a bead of hot glue gun glue about 1/2” from the top to secure the fabric. I didn’t do that. It is in the tea cup pretty snugly already. Also the tea cup is hand painted china, so I might want to change its use later and I don’t was to have it glued up. Also most instructions tell you to do a bead of glue around the bottom of the cup or a pool of glue on the saucer to glue the cup to the saucer. I didn’t do that either for the same reason.
Now here it is in use.
I might later add a “pearl bead” rim around the top attached to the fabric. Not sure yet.
This takes maybe an hour to do and makes a nice gift for a friend who does sewing. Thrift stores have lots of cups to choose from and how much or little you embellish it is up to you.
You can google pincushion tea cup and find even easier ways to make this. Many do not bother with the stocking inset. I do think, though, it gives it more structure.
So What are you Quilting?