Easy Pin Cushion DIY

Pin all the things! Here's a fun and easy DIY to do this weekend!

PIN: Main Entry: pin  (pin)  -- Part of Speech: verb
Definition: attach, hold in place
Synonyms: affix, bind, clasp, close, fasten, fix, hold down,
hold fast, immobilize, join, pinion, press, restrain, secure

Easy Handmade Pin Cushion DIY

Yay for sewing notions! (And all the seamstresses said, Amen!)I use several different pin cushions around my craft and sewing areas. Mostly because I'm pretty good at misplacing them, and I always need another to keep my pins handy before I lose them and end up getting them stuck in a toe later on. (sigh)

So I when I decided to whip up a new one the other day, and I took some snapshots to share with you as an easy DIY project here on le Stitchery blog.

Pin cushions are easy-peasy, so enjoy and have fun!

The fabric I used for this project is no longer available.

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To start off, RIP these cute zebra scissors. They broke just a few short hours after I used them to cut out my fabric for this project. Who knows.

Stick pins usually come in some sort of lovely plastic box, which looks handy at first, but upon retrospection, is mostly useless while actually working with said stick pins. (Must be a pin cushion conspiracy.)

My favorite technique is to use a simple hunk of Styrofoam. You can use just about any size or shape or thickness. Styrofoam gives a consistent pok-a-bility that cotton or fiberfill can't provide. :)

Choose your fabric.

Any thin cotton works great. Knits tend to stretch out too much and get loose over time. Thicker fabrics aren't a great choice--you want your pin-sticking to be a smooth and happy jabbing process, so avoid fancy weaves or anything furry or fuzzy.

Find a swatch of fabric that will cover your Styrofoam of choice. Just fold it over and around to see if it will fit. It doesn't have to be perfect, and it doesn't require any fancy measuring.

Start wrapping it up just like a present. Use...wait for it... PINS ...to pin your fabric in place. You'll want to use flat-head pins, of course.

Nothing fancy.

Just start folding the fabric just like you would wrapping paper and pin it into place the same way you'd use tape.

Use a fairly taut pinning process as you go along. No saggy, baggy fabric, just nice, tight pinnage.

I'm not fussy about the bottom of my pin cushion. If you are, you can use a larger piece of fabric to make sure everything is covered. You could even do this with a hot glue gun, but since the pins are so handy, this works just fine for me.

If you really wanted to go all out and get fancy with it, you could trim a piece of felt to fit the bottom and glue it in place.

But as you can see, I'm not fancy. :)

Ta-da!

Oh, yeah, there's the money shot!

Ta-da!

Happy sticking and pinning!

If you need some new straight pins to fill up your new pin cushion, here are some of my favorite. I love the colorful pearly heads that make them easier to find when you drop them. Because I drop them. Often.
:)
Have fun!
--KD