Something new from something old

I've been helping my mother clean out her attic and came across a box of odd dishes that belonged to my grandfather and and great-grandparents. I brought home two little custard cups because I liked the colors, but I knew I wouldn't use them for their intended purpose. I didn't want to just pack them back in a box, though, so I decided to make pincushions out of them.

I've seen lots of other pincushions made along the same lines but with teacups or small garden pots. They were really quick and easy to make.


To keep needles from sinking through to the bottom of the cup, I started out by cutting two cardboard circles big enough to fit in the cups about half an inch below the rims.


Next, I cut circles out of some scraps of quilt batting for the stuffing. Since my cups get wider at the top, I cut four the same size as the cardboard circle and four slightly larger for each cup. I just kept stacking them up and squishing them down until they seemed about the right thickness. I wasn't very scientific about it!


Time to pick out fabrics. The blue print is left over from making herbal comfort packs (like the ones here and here). The pink is from a thrifted sheet.


I cut a circle from each of the fabrics about twice as wide as my cardboard bases, then stitched around them by hand with a double thread to make a gathering thread. Next, I laid the fabric on my table right side DOWN and stacked the larger batting circles, then the smaller batting circles, then the cardboard circle on top.


I pulled the gathering thread tight and knotted it to make my cushion. See how the stack of batting squished down? It made a nice, firm cushion but not too dense to stick pins in.


Finally, I added a couple beads of hot glue around the bottom of the cushion (along the edge where the cardboard is) and popped them into the cups.


Aren't they cute? I gave the blue/green one to my sister and kept the pink one for myself. I love having a little bit of family history on my work table!