I was aiming to finish my Aeroplane bag over the last couple of nights. And then it happened: that little idea that I just had to try out Right Now, spurred on by the fact that I was going to be using some scraps of Liberty Lifestyle Bloomsbury and there's a competition which finishes tomorrow, and I love working to a deadline!
Like all ideas, it was inspired by a couple of things and led to doodles. I remember seeing a pin cushion attached to a sewing machine a while ago (similar to this) and thinking it was a good great idea. I've been thinking about it a lot more lately as where I sew the table placement in relation to the socket means that my machine is right on the corner of the table (with the cable taut, a veritable trip hazard, but Mr f&f is very understanding and tolerant about this!) and either cannot find a handy place to put my pin-cushion or balance it precariously on the side of the table and then inevitably knock it off and spend ages looking for it again.
After a few doodles I decided to Just Go For it. I used foundation piecing to create "Pins" - which to be honest I've never done before - so although I attempted to plan it out, I did wing it in a few areas.
For the cushion padding I made a bit of a wadding sandwich (approximately 2" x 4") - plastic for the base to stop the pins marking my machine (a washed out milk bottle was sacrificed), two layers of wadding, a scourer cut to size in attempt to keep my pins sharp, two more layers of wadding and then a further piece of wadding which was wider and folded over and glued to the plastic to keep everything in place.
I made a strap longer than the neck of my machine, about 3/4" wide with a little bit of elastic sewn in to ensure a snug fit, which was stitched securely to one side of the pincushion top. When it came to creating the cushion the short sides were folded in first and laced together, followed by the longer sides and then I slip-stitched some felt over the back to keep everything in place, having fixed a KAM snap in first. And then it was done. Do you want to see it?!
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| Sewing machine pincushion by fabricandflowersuk |
I'm really pleased with it, although in retrospect I wish I had used a lighter colour for the letters, so instead I embellished with running stitch to make the letters stand out more.
So there we go. I now have a pincushion which will no longer disappear. Now it's time to get back to my Aeroplane Bag!
Hope you've all had a lovely day wherever you are,
S x
Todays sky ● grey, miserable & wet: does the weather not know that it's half term and that the three Littlies really need to go outside (for all our sakes!)
Labels: DIY, patchwork quilting, sewing
