DIY Pincushion

Its been quite some time since I last posted a project on here - sorry but I've been distracted by a lot of other things going on in my life, I have made a few items lately, so hopefully I can share them with you over the next few posts.  I have no idea who - if anyone - reads this, but if you do, it would be great if you left a comment.

Last year a friend lent me a pincushion that attached to the wrist while I was working on a sewing project, it was really useful but I discovered that to get one of my own could also prove to be quite expensive, so I thought there was no reason why I couldn't make my own.  I bought my self a fat quarter of fabric, a piece of co-ordinating felt, some matching embroidery thread and a packet of elastic - the total cost wasn't really all that different in the end to the cost of a bought pincushion but I had great fun planning what I was going to do and it was the first time I'd ever tried die-cutting felt so I also had the excitement of discovering how effective that was too!

I actually cut my pincushion out and embroidered the hearts onto the fabric last year but then came to a halt because at that time, I still hadn't plucked up the courage to try out my new sewing machine.  The machine has been sitting on the dining table for a few days and today I finally decided it needed moving... but then thought it would be a good idea to finish a couple of outstanding projects first.  It actually only took a few minutes to sew around the pincushion - trouble was I'd under estimated how much elastic I would need for my (rather chubby) wrist as once I'd turned it out and slid in a piece of repurposed plastic (to prevent accidental pin acupuncture) and stuffed it, the elastic was tighter than I'd anticipated.  Luckily, I'd prepared two pincushions ready for sewing so made sure my second attempt was a better fit and in fact its currently in my teddy workbox already being put to good use.  :)

The pincushions are a very simple design, were really easy to make and I have loads of fabric left so I might make a few more as Christmas gifts for some of my crafting friends or I might use some of the other fabrics I've bought since or perhaps next time I'll make something more ambitious as I've seen some absolutely wonderful ideas for pincushions on Pinterest - but this one was designed with a particular task in mind and it does exactly what I needed it to do so I'm happy.

I have to admit I now regret that I gave away my old fabric stash a few years ago when it became obvious my old sewing machine was never going to work properly again, but the fabric did go to a good home and the fabric designs I've seen since I started looking again over about the last 10 months, are just SO beautiful that I have given into temptation a few times, so hopefully there will be more sewing projects to follow.