Campfire Chic: How To: Make a Patchwork Pincushion

Today's post is brought to you by Vics of Bramblebird. I (Kam) was thrilled to throw this guest blog post into my editor and see how Vics organized the photos for this tutorial! The nerd in me is thrilled with the reduced load time (due to less actual images), the blog reader in me is excited to see a ton of photos in a post, and the crafter in me is inspired to attack a project like this!

As I wrote Vics a quick 'thank you' email, I told her that I think this DIY would be perfect for those girls-night-in events where each person makes the same craft, great inexpensive gifts, and now that I think of it...these would make beautiful ornaments for the holidays! BOOM. This DIY is more than about creating a pincushion! It is about bringing friends together, giving a handmade gift, and decorating on a budget.

Hi, I’m Vics & I blog at Bramblebird. I blog about all sorts of crafty things... and as I know Kam is keen to do some more sewing, I’d love to share how to make yourself a patchwork pincushion. I’ve included lots of photos as I think more is more when it comes to a tutorial!

Here’s what you need to get started:

scraps of favourite fabric
two larger squares of fabric for the front and back
thread
some soft stuffing
pins & needles
(sewing maching totally optional)

First you need to cut out six hexagons of equal size. I have a sheet of hexagons marked out (1) so I cut what I need each time... if you just google ‘hexagon’ you’ll find similar sheets you can scale up or down. Mine are around 4cm point-to-point.

Now cut out scraps of fabric to fit with a small border around the edge of your hexagons (2). The most important thing here is to match up two of the straight edges with the grain of the fabric.

Take some contrasting coloured thread and stitch the fabric to the hexagon paper shape like you see in 3. It feels a bit odd, but the fabric shapes itself really easily around the paper once you hold it in place with a stitch.

Now for the fun bit -- have a play around with the hexagons until you arrive at a arrangement you’re happy with. I’ve got mine in 4.

Now you need to sew your hexagons together using a tiny over-stitch (5). The easiest way to do this is to place the hexagons right-side facing and stitch the seam together at the back - just like you see in the picture.

Continue stitching the hexagons together one by one until you have all six sewn together with a hole in the middle - you can see my work in progress in 6. You can also get an idea of the kind of effect you’re after with your over-stitching in pictures 7 & 8 -- visible on the back but ideally not on the front.

Once you have your pattern finished, pick out some fabric to make up the front & back of your pincushion. I’ve picked a plain navy blue (9) with a gold denim for the back... I like the way the plain background makes the patterning of patchwork fabric really pop -- but you could maybe reverse it and have a patterned background for a non-patterned patchwork to sit against. It’s entirely up to you!

Time to sew the patchwork to the backing. The easiest way to do this is to work your way around the edge of the centre hole first. You’ll want to position your shape to the background as centrally as possible & pin it down first. Then, come up through the edge of the hexagon as close to the edge as possible & back down through the backing fabric, angling your needle underneath the patchwork shape so you hide as much of the stitch as possible (10).

Once you’ve got all sides of the centre stitched down, work your way around the outside edge. You’ll have to remove the paper and tacking stitches as you go, I find it easiest to work my way around these one at a time to make sure the shapes hold. So carefully snip the tacking stitches (11) and ease out the paper (12) before repeating the tiny stitches coming up and out of the edge of the shape and down through the background fabric (13).

Now place the front & back of your pincushion together with right-sides facing (14). This also shows how the back of your patchwork front-piece should look!

If you have a little tag or label you’d like to incorporate, now’s the time to place it (15). It needs to sit in-between the two pieces of fabric facing inwards (that always feels a bit weird to me, but trust me!)

The next stage is quick if you have a sewing maching - just zip around the edges of your two pinned together fabric squares. Your stitches should be around 5mm in from the edge (this is called your 'seam allowance'). Don't sew around all four sides completely - leave an unstitched gap that will give you enough space to turn it right-side out (around 8 cm is good). But don’t worry if you don’t have a machine, it’s pretty quick to handsew too - you’ll just want to keep your stitches nice & small. Before you turn it inside out, use a sharp pair of scissors & cut little triangles out of the four corners, being careful not to cut the stitches - this just lets you push the corners out a little sharper than you’d be able to with excess fabric in the way (16).

Once you’ve turned your pincushion the right way out, use an iron to press the seam inwards on the gap you left (17) and stuff using any light toy-stuffing.

Final step - pick a thread colour that’s sympathetic and stitch the hole closed. It’s really hard to get this totally invisible without a lot of practice, but I find a simple, small over-stitch works perfectly well.

And that’s it - you’re done!