Felt Pincushions

Those of you who know me, know that I love to use felt and recycled felted wool for my sewing projects. Pincushions are no exception. This summer I made three pincushions from felt or felted wool.

I made this Eiffel Tower pincushion for my nephew. He loves the Eiffel Tower and needed a cheer up this summer. He likes to sew with me so he picked out the project and I made it. My inspiration was this pincushion. Unfortunately it wasn't a downloadable pattern and we were in a hurry. We couldn't wait for the pattern to be mailed, so I had to improvise and make my own. It's not as good as the original, but my nephew liked it so that's what counts.

I also made this little froggy pincushion for my August YOE (Year of Enchantment) partner. I added magnets to the bottom so it would stick on the little metal tin. I found the pattern for this pincushion in a children's sewing book and tweaked it a bit.
Before that, for the YOE July Theme, I made a mermaid pincushion for Kerry. Here are shots of the front and back of the mermaid pincushion.

All that pincushion fun this summer made me want to host this pincushion swap. Now that the swap has started, I have a bunch of ideas(not all of them involve felt or felted wool.) I need to narrow my ideas down and start creating. It's going to be fun! I hope you think so too. So let the pincushion making begin. Have fun, be creative and most of all enjoy making your pincushion. I know I will!

Pincushion Patterns and Tutorials

Here are some pincushion patterns and tutorials. I thought these might provide some inspiration and get your creative juices flowing. I can't wait to see what you all create!

http://uklassinus.blogspot.com/2007/11/its-all-gone-pear-shaped.html

http://www.marthastewart.com/267628/teacup-pincushions?autonomy_kw=pincushion

http://ellisonlane.blogspot.com/2011/05/scrappy-pincushion-tutorial-lapel-stick.html

http://veryberryhandmade.co.uk/2011/05/30/quick-pieced-pincushion-tutorial/

http://www.craftpassion.com/2010/04/sewing-tutorial-turtle-pincushion-with-pattern.html

http://natsprat.blogspot.com/2011/04/cupcake-pin-cushion-tutorial.html

http://www.stamps-and-stitches.com/2010/01/cupcake-pincushion-tutorial.html

http://www.heatherbaileydesign.com/HBSquareDeal.pdf

For more pincushion ideas, check out these PDFs and links:

http://lilatuellerdesigns.com/pdf_files/LilaTuellerDesigns-MushroomPincushions.pdf

http://www.thediydish.com/promo/theDIYdish_Season3_Ep1_BirdPinCushion.pdf

http://www.thediydish.com/promo/theDIYdish_OwlPinCushion.pdf

http://thelongthread.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/mouse-pincushion-revised-instructions.pdf

http://tipnut.com/pincushion-patterns/

Pincushion Partners

Pincushion partner information has been e-mailed to everyone. Please take a minute to double check and make sure I paired everyone up correctly. If I made a mistake let me know. Partner assignments are below:

Val & Melinda

Barb & Laura

Ruth & Gayle

Kerry & Joanna

Shawnee & Jill

Don't forget to e-mail me to confirm you got your partner information. I'll send blog invitations out tonight so you can post inspirations, thoughts and pincushion goodness. Thanks for participating in the swap!!!

Crafty Bits Swap Spot Pincushion Swap

Yes, it's a pincushion Swap!

Sign Ups:

Sign Ups will start today and end Saturday September 24 @ 11pm.

Mail Deadline:

Mail by no later than Monday October 24th.

You must use tracking and delivery confirmation if mailing with-in the US. Please send me the tracking number.

Swap Details:

Swappers of all skill levels are invited but you must have a blog to join. This swap is open internationally. If you prefer to swap in the US only please be sure to let me know. This will be a partner to partner swap so feel free to contact your partner and make friends!

What we're swapping: This is a pincushion swap so we are swapping:

1. Pincushion of your choice. There is no specific theme for your pincushion. Pincushions can be hand stitched or machine sewn but should be handcrafted not purchased. Be creative, have fun, and create something that you would love to receive!

2. Two sewing bobbles/goodies to go along with your pincushion package.

Cost:

This is meant to be a fun and inexpensive swap so let's keep the expense between $5 and $10. This price includes your materials for making the pincushion and your two sewing bobbles/goodies. (Costs of postage/shipping is not included in the amount.)

Other Details:

Pincushion materials: Any combination of materials and mediums may be used to create your pincushion. For example assorted fabric types, yarns, recycled wool, batting, recycled materials, plastic, wood, glass, tin, or ceramic containers. You name it and with a little creativity it can probably be made into a pincushion.

Pincushion Filling: When it comes to filling your pincushion, there are lots of available fillings. Cotton, polyester, wool fabric, yarn, sawdust, crushed walnut shells, sand and/or rice could be used. Some swappers may be sensitive to some of these filling materials. If you have allergies to anything that could be potentially used as a filling please let me know. I want you to to have a usable pincushion that won't send you to the emergency room in anaphylactic shock! Along these same lines when you mail your pincushion please let your partner know the materials you used when making and stuffing your pincushion.

Remember - be creative, have fun, and create something that you would love to receive! Need some inspiration? Ideas for all kinds of pincushions can be found all over the internet. Check out Google images, ETSY, Flickr, Yahoo images, etc. for ideas. Need a pincushion tutorial? In the coming weeks I'll be posting links for some great pincushion tutorials.

Want to sign up???

Have I talked you into participating yet? Good! Go fill out the form Here to sign up. You must fill out the form on WUFOO to participate. Just leaving me a comment doesn't sign you up(though I do love to read comments so feel free to fill out your WUFOO form then come back and leave a comment!)

Surprise Panda Mail!

I'm so lucky, I have the greatest friends! My friend Barb sent us a panda surprise in the mail! I came home on Friday to discover these Panda screen bags. Just look at them! There was one for my daughter and one for me! What a great surprise! We love them and feel completely spoiled!!! Thank you Barb!