Wooly Fun Part Two is here..........

Here's the wooly pincushion I made that was inspired by the Wooly Round Robin. I'm going to show you how to take your wooly piece and make it into a plump pincushion.

In my previous post............ I took the wooly round robin piece and used it to make a sewing box cover.  I started by just doing a running stitch around the perimeter of the piece with Perle cotton. See here. You will do the same to get your pincushion started. In the photo below, I've completed the stitching around the perimeter of the wooly piece and pulled the thread to gather it a bit............

Next, I turned it "inside-out" and gathered the fabric to make a bowl shape. I secured the Perle Cotton so that the bowl shape would be permanent. This is a "guesswork" issue as all wooly pieces may be different sizes. And since there is no right or wrong size to this project, it doesn't really matter.  I placed the bowl shape on the corner section of a piece of wool that will become the base of the pincushion.............

I trimmed around the wooly piece creating a circle. You can "true-up" your circle after you get the intitial shape cut out.

Next, take your bowl shaped wooly piece and pin the wool circle to it, pinning all the way around......................

Then you will stitch all the way around the pinned area. Yes, you may be thinking "I have no opening, how will I stuff this?" My answer would be......."we will make an opening soon but by stitching it together this way, you will get a really even shape that will stuff very nicely". Here is the completed piece all stitched together.............

To make your opening, grab the wool base piece at the center (you could measure if you want, but I just "eye-balled it"). Make a little snip with your scissors at this spot...........

And then make a circle cut in this area about 1-1/2 to 2" in diameter. Now turn your wooly piece inside out and it's ready to stuff. Sorry, I didn't get a photo of it at this stage.  With the piece ready to stuff, just begin filling it with polyester batting, wool or cotton stuffing. The rim of the hole that you cut will stretch some so that is why you only want a 1-1/2 to 2" opening for stuffing.  Stuff the pincushion carefully, but leave a "well" in the middle for the next step. Sorry, this photo is a bit fuzzy.............

I wanted weight in my pincushion so I made the following item. I cut a circle from muslin about 8" in diameter and did a running stitch around it as shown in the photo above. Then I filled it with crushed walnut shells (lizard bedding which can be found at most pet stores) as shown in this photo............

I placed a small circle of batting over the top of the crushed shells and then pulled the running stitch tight and secured it as shown in the photo above. I turned it over and placed it in the "well" of the stuffing in the pincushion...............

I was almost finished at this point. I cut circle from the wool base fabric that was approximately 3/4" larger all the way around the circle opening. See photo above.  I pinned it in place and began to blanket stitch this piece to the wool pincushion base...........

And in this photo above, you can see that the blanket stitching is finished and so is the pincushion. It's all done and I just love it.............

Now you might be thinking.......oh, it's going to be too hot to think about stitching with wool. Well, with summer coming up, there will be family outings and reunions, maybe a summer vacation and when you are out and about............keep your eye out for shops that carry wool and check out thrift shops for wool clothes you can recycle (be sure to wash it all as soon as you get home.......old wool clothes can carry a moth or critter, or two and you don't need that kind of company).  Then when fall and cooler weather arrive, you will have a lovely stash of wooly fabrics so you can make a wooly pincushion, penny rug or wooly applique project! If you have any questions on this project, please let me know.
Have a great day! Cool and rainy here in Minnesota. We were glad we didn't have family outings planned. It's a good day to catch up in the sewing room!
Sandi