Thursday, January 17, 2013

15 Minute Gift Idea

Did you forget your friends birthday til the last minute or do you need a quick gift for your Secret Sister at Quilt Guild tonight?  Here's an idea that will only take a few minutes to make without a lot of prep..
I like to shop flea markets and thrift stores for lots of things, like right now I am in search for sewing cards from the 1950's, you know those brightly colored cardboard figures with holes punched in various places for you to "sew" with the yarn laces.  I do believe that was my very first sewing experience, so I would like to have a set for "old times sake". I recently found a set from the 60's with plastic laces but they just wasn't right  for me, so I passed them up.  But it;s all about the thrill of the hunt and I will keep searching.
Another thing I search for that is a little more available is those heavy tea light holders like this one because they make great pin cushions.

I cut a four inch square, round the edges, don't worry about getting it perfectly round just start trimming.
Run a basting stitch 1/4" around the outside edge and gather up and start stuffing.  My favorite stuffing for pin cushions is wool because they keep your pins sharp, but this particular pincushion will be mainly decorative for me, so I used fiber fill in this one.
After it is pretty full I will secure my basting threads leaving an opening just large enough for my finger and then I will continue stuffing until it is very firm and will hold no more stuffing material.  I put a little hot glue in the bottom of my tea light holder and place my pincushion in the holder.
I was prompted to make this pincushion to house the lovely pins displayed in this photo.  The pins were a gift from one of my student for Christmas this year.  I knew they needed a special place so thought this glass holder would work nicely and only took me 15 minutes to make.  This will reside on the table beside my tv watching chair and will be readily available if I need a place to place a pin while sewing during tv time.
Enjoy your day....

No comments:

Post a Comment