Recycled jar lid pincushion - Tutorial

Hello everyone!

I haven't put up a tutorial or pattern in a while so I thought it was about time I did! The recycled jar lid pincushion is an idea I came up with a while ago but hadn't got round to getting a tutorial together until now :)

They are super easy and quick to make and you can try them in loads of different styles depending on what fabric you have and what you decorate them with/embroider onto them :D

Here are some samples I made:

And here is how to make your own!:

You will need:

• Any old jar lid
• A piece of scrap fabric (a few times larger than your jar lid)
• A couple of handfuls of stuffing
• Some scissors
• A ruler
• A pen
• A needle
• Some thread
• A piece of felt (optional)
• Whatever decorations you wish!

How to:

1. Take your jar and remove the lid, any type of lid will do :-)

 

2. Clean your lid thoroughly!!! You don't want your finished pincushion to smell like pasta sauce or pickled onions!

3. Measure the radius of your lid- the distance from the centre to the outer edge (mine is about 3.5cm).

 

4. Then take your piece of fabric and measure and draw out a circle of radius 2 and a 1/2 times bigger than that of your lid onto it. Add about 1/2 a cm to the radius of your jar lid before you calculate the radius needed of your fabric circle (Add about 1cm instead if your lid is quite thick, like the lid of the chocolate spread jar in the photo).

(e.g the radius of my fabric circle was 10cm as my lid had a radius of  about 3.5cm > so > 4cm once add 1/2 cm and 2.5 x this is 10cm)

You don't have to be super accurate here, if your lid has a radius 3.1cm just round it 3.5cm and then do the calculations above. Make it easy for yourself :0)

 

5. Cut out the circle

6. Next thread your needle doubled up style (cut a long length of thread then pull it through your needle so the middle lies in the eye of the needle, like you are sewing with two strands of thread). I do it this way so that it is stronger for when you pull on it to gather up the material later, so it doesn't break.

 7. Sew running stitch all the way around your fabric circle about 1/2 a cm in from the edge. Once you have done this pull on the thread slightly to gather the material loosely like so:

 

8. Stuff quite a bit of stuffing inside your gathered pocket.

 

9. Then slide your lid under the gathered edge and above the stuffing (with flat side facing down, like in the picture). This will form the base of your pincushion and stop the pins sliding through and jabbing you, like they often do to me when I pick up my pincushions!

You can add more stuffing under the edges of the lid if you think your pincushion will not be puffy enough.

 

10. When you have reached a suitable level of stuffedness/puffyness :) gather up the bottom of your pincushion tightly and secure. You can stick a circle of felt on the bottom if you want to make the base look neat.

It should now look something like this:

11. Finally decorate however you wish and your pincushion is finished! Viola!:

:)

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I hope you all liked the tutorial!

Make lots of them and give them as gifts to your fave crafty friends! :D

Hehehe, See you all soon <3

Bye XxXxX

(P.S. Please do not sell items made from this tutorial without asking permission first, thanks xxx :)