Pincushion

Materials 

Cut 4.5” x 4.5” pieces of the following:
1 x heavy sew-in interfacing
1 x embroidered cotton (keep the design within the central 3” square)
1 x backing fabric

You will also need: 

~15” piping.  There is a lovely tutorial on making and using piping here at Make It and Love It.

 

To make the front 

1. Before cutting into my cotton, I embroidered some words to the front. I wrote my message on paper in black marker and traced it onto my fabric with a sharp pencil. I then embroidered over the words with two strands of floss.  I used backstitch, and there is a good tutorial here at Sublime Stitching.  Learn from my mistakes and take care to weave in your starting and finishing loose ends along the back of your embroidery.  This will avoid knotty blobs showing through as shadows on the front.
2. Cut the front piece of cotton into a 4.5” x 4.5” square with the design central and baste it on to the interfacing. 
3. Press lightly through a cloth to avoid flattening your embroidery stitches.

Embroidery location on front of pincushion

 

To make the cushion 

1. For each piece (front and back), sew across the corners by folding the fabric edge-to-edge, right sides together, and then stitching perpendicular to the edges, 3/4” from the corner (see image).
2. Baste the piping to the front piece using a piping foot or zipper foot, allowing 1/4" seam allowance for constructing the cushion.
3. Sandwich the back and front right-sides together and sew around the edges as close to the piping as possible and leaving a gap at the bottom of the cushion. 
4. Turn the cushion the right way out through the gap and stuff it firmly. 
5. Close the gap by hand using small invisible stitches.

Sewing the corners (step 1)

This tutorial is part of a series: