Finger Pincushions

Another quilter once sent me this finger pincushion:

I thought it was quite clever. It's especially useful for making flying geese which requires only a few pins.

I realized that this is not only a handy little notion for quilters but also a recycled craft that is pretty AND functional. I thought it would be fun to see if the kids and I could make a few.

Here you can see most of our supplies. Not pictured are the caps to cola/water bottles, a drill and a hot glue gun.

For each pincushion you'll need:
bottle cap
@ 4.5 inches of elastic
@4 inches of decorative ric rac to go around the outside of cap
scrap piece of fabric @ 4 inches square with the corners cut off
enough pillow stuffing or batting to make the cushion as firm as you want

We had great success with a 5 inch square piece of polyester batting.

To assemble:

• 
  drill 2 holes in the top, center of the cap, about 1/4" apart



• thread elastic through holes so that you have a loop under the flat part of the cap



• tie a square knot and leave the loose bits in the cap



• roll the batting/stuffing into a tight ball and place inside the fabric



• bring the edges of fabric up around the stuffing into the old fashioned money bag shape



• working with a partner [adult or teen] squeeze hot glue into cap and stuff fabric ball quickly into the cap -- ** be careful or you may get a small burn



• glue decorative fabric or ribbon around the outside edge of the bottle cap, add a few pins and you're finished!

This is certainly a 2 person job and may not be suitable for younger kids. Obviously, only adults should use the drill. I found that my three kids, ages 10, 11 and 14 were able to help me make several pincushions. My husband taught me how to drill the holes. My teen daughter and I did the work with the hot glue gun. This project doesn't take long at all. It took us longer to find the glue sticks!


Here you can see the 3 we made, that are trimmed in black, and the pincushion I received as a gift. I think we did a pretty good job of reverse engineering the concept. :)

Enjoy!