June 16, 2011

Off on a tangent...

Well, while working on the new idea I gave you a sneaky peek of last week, another idea popped up, which kind of took over.  And here it is, a parcel pincushion.


The address says 'pins & needles, the sewing box',


...the only problem I had with the design was what to stuff it with.  Felted wool has a lot of give, which is great for the rounded shapes involved in making animals, but can be a bit of a problem when it comes to anything requiring hard, straight edges.  The only solution I came up with was to use foam, a block of seat pad foam cut down to size.  Any other ideas??


I kind of like how it's turned out.  Think I'll be making some more of these for Etsy asap!

17 comments:

Gem said...

Wow, it looks great, I love it xxx

Tiffany said...

So cute! Great idea :)

Jacqui said...

Could you stack a whole bunch of sheets of thick felted wool to make the shape? I don't know if felted sweaters would hold the edges, but more industrial felt would, though whether you'd get pins into it I don't know! Is it possible to full rovings into square shapes?

Twiglet said...

Great little pin cushion - fab idea.

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Plushpussycat said...

This is totally adorable! Good thinking on more for Etsy. ;-)
Jennifer

Jingle said...

This is WAY too cute! I love it!

Unknown said...

Absolutely beautiful!

Pepa said...

Thank you! I'll try to make it! I's so original and cute!
Decora Recicla Imagina…

lettice leaf said...

On the strength of your fabby fantastic pin cushion I'm now going to become a follower. LLX

Doda said...

that is too adorable. Will you be doing a tutorial on that one?

Mrs Mac said...

Pin cushions are traditionally filled with emery sand, as it cleans the needles and pins as you put them in. It's quite heavy though, so for mail order sales it might be difficult, depends on the size you're thinking of. Nowadays you often find a pincushion in the shape of a fruit, and filled with something like cotton wool with just a little sand mixed in, and then there'll be a little leaf attached for decoration, and this will be filled with the emery sand. I hadn't thought of the problem before but it's tricky, getting something that gives but also grips! LOL!

Quietly Otaku said...

So cute! I love this idea, lends itself to being customized as well. I think I would have just done what you did which is to use a foam block... makes sense since its the right sort of shape. You could try different types of foam?

lulu said...

This is so cute...I would probably try and use bits of old sock inside but unlikely to be as robust as the foam :-/

Kathleen said...

That pincushion is great!

I use polyester fiberfill to fill my pincushions, but my cats are round in shape. So I'm not sure if it would help with the square shape. Probably not.

But even so, that pincushion is very cool!

Anonymous said...

What about green florist foam?

Jennifer J said...

I have to suggest two fillings that we used when I was younger. One is steel wool - we used the kind with soap in it (Brillo pads). The steel wool was supposed to remove rust, while the soap lubricated the pins and needles. The other is plain bar soap. We always chose something that smelled good. You would want to wrap the soap with a layer of fabric, because eventually it will dry and crumble. Glycerine soap wasn't around then, but if it works, you wouldn't have to worry about it crumbling. I really do like your design. Found you through Bustle and Sew. Have a great day!