Tattered Pin Cushion Tutorial

Today I thought I'd do something a little different and try my hand at a tutorial, I'm a huge fan of tutorials and use them regularly for inspiration and to solve all sorts of craft problems, so here is my contribution to the world of tutorials which I hope will be an easy fun project to do

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

Base fabric is some scrap cotton or linen

7 x 6 inches (15 x 18 cm)

Rubber stamp with an image approx

3 x 3.75 inches (7.5 x 9.5 cm)

Water proof ink pad

Piece of cotton canvas (approx 3 x 4 inches) to stamp an image on

Piece of loose weave fabric (cotton, linen, or sacking)

approx 3.5 x 4.5 inches (9 x 11.5 cm)

Strip of 1 inch elastic (enough to go around your wrist and a little extra for sewing approx 8 inches)

Some wadding or scrap batting to stuff the pin cushion

Stamp your desired image onto your cotton canvas and trim to size of image

Then add some highlights or embellishments to your image, what ever takes your fancy here it's up to you how simple or elaborate you want this piece to be

Sew the canvas with your printed image to the loose weave fabric (I used a zig-zag stitch to do this as it prevents fraying) trim the loose weave fabric leaving about 1/4 inch seam all the way around, this give the lovely tattered effect once you fray the edges a little,

Sew the tattered image piece to base fabric keeping to the far right of your fabric but be sure to leave about 1/2 inch seam allowance to the side of the image 

Attach the first end of the elastic strip to the base fabric, approx 1/2 inch from the tattered edge 

Measure the required length of elastic to fit your wrist and attach the second end of elastic approx 3/4 inch from outer edge of base fabric, (elastic should feel a little loose around the wrist at this stage but don't worry once the cushion is stuffed it will take up the slack)

On the wrong side pin back all seam allowances and press flat

A quick run with the iron will help to keep everything nice and flat, the wrong side should resemble this 

While the right side should now look like this

Fold the piece in half matching edges and machine stitch two sides of the piece with a coordinating thread, don't worry that the thread will show through to the front it won't be noticed with the tattered edge and it even adds to the overall tattered feel of the piece

Now we're ready to add the stuffing material, make sure to put in plenty (a skinny pin cushion is never a good thing) 

Finally stitch the opening closed this can be a little tricky to do with the machine but if you push the stuffing away from the seam and put in a pin to keep it back it helps or it can easily just be hand stitched

Ta Dah ! all done just smoosh it around a bit to even out the stuffing that you pushed back and the finished pin cushion should look something like these little fellas, 

the one on on the left is one I made for myself about 4 years ago and use every day, and it's still going strong 

These are a simple but very useful piece of equipment that every crafter that uses pins and needles of some description should have,

I hope you enjoy making and using yours