Mini Bottle Cap Pincushion Tutorial

Hi folks

Recently, I ran a workshop teaching how to make bottle cap pincushions.  It was great!  I made up instructions for the folks and I thought I may as well share them with you here too.

Now the instructions here show you the basic construction.  I’ll leave the embellishment to you. You can have a lot of fun once you know the basics.  I know I have.  I’ve attached a PDF downloadable version of these instructions down below if you’d rather print them out.

Materials

Felt scraps , bottle caps, circle template below, embroidery thread, embroidery needle, embroidery scissors, pencil with eraser on end, stuffing fibre

Circle template

Instructions

1. Cut a felt circle the size of the bottom of the bottle cap
   
2. Cut a rectangle slightly higher than the height of the bottle cap side, long enough to overlap by approximately 5 mm.
3. Cut a circle to the template size.
   
4. Work a long running stitch around the edge of the large circle, when you get back to the start, pull the thread so the circle becomes a rough ball shape with an opening about 1 – 1.5 cm’s across – enough to poke a finger in.  Make a small back stitch to secure it temporarily.
   
5. Hold it in your hand, and stuff with small amounts of stuffing fibre, using the eraser end of the pencil to work it in, in a circular motion.
   
6. When it is really well stuffed, pull your thread to close the gap. Stitch around the gap, pulling tight as you go. When the gap is completely closed, knot and cut the thread.
   
7. Wrap the long thin rectangle around the bottle cap.
8. Holding the overlapped part, sew from underneath the bottom layer of the overlap through to the top of the overlap at the bottom edge of the bottle cap.
   
9. Place the small circle on the bottom of the bottle cap, in the circle of side rectangle felt. Whip stitch it to the side all the way around
   
10. When you get to the overlapped side, whip stitch up the side and stop when you get to the top edge. Don’t fasten off the thread.
    
11. Take the bottle cap out of the half made felt sleeve and position your stuffed ball in the bottle cap.
    
12. Put the cap and ball back in the felt sleeve and sew it together all the way around, working close to the edge of the felt side. Secure the thread. Voila! Done.
    
    So there you go. If you’d like to download the instructions, click this link :  Mini Pincushion Tutorial
13. Go make some pincushions!

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