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We hope you're gearing up for the fall season and getting those projects in motion. If you need some project ideas, check out this guest blog post from Beaquilter. In her usual creative style, Bea shows you how fast and easy it is to make a fun appliqué design with adorable acorns from the GO! Fall Medley die. You could also use other GO! holiday dies to come up with your own creative holiday pincushions.
Things you'll need for the acorn pin cushions:
GO! Half Square Triangle-3" Finished Square (55009)
Scraps of fall fabrics
Embroidery floss
Matching button & sewing thread
An iron-on adhesive
Crushed walnut shells or fiber fill for stuffing
Start by cutting out 8 half square triangles - two each of your two fall colored fabrics
Sew pieces into half square triangle units like this.
Now lay out the pieces how you want them for your block. I chose a pinwheel block. Sew block together.
With dark brown scraps and adhesive, iron adhesive to the back of pieces you want for the acorn pieces. They can be different or all the same.
Peel off paper backing from the adhesive and iron acorns onto block, close to the center seams as shown.
With matching thread or black thread, appliqué pieces down. I chose to do a small zig zag, but you can also do a button hole stitch or a straight stitch to raw edge appliqué them down.
(Have the needle DOWN when pivoting on curves to get a smoother line.)
For a biscornu pincushion, it’s all about careful pinning and sewing during this next step.
Take one corner from the bottom block and pin it to the center of the top block, matching up seams with ¼” seam allowance, repeat with the corner, then it’s the center point matching up with the corner, continue all the way around.
Sew seven out of eight edges with ¼” seam allowance, leaving the needle down at each turn and sewing slowly, leave one side open for turning inside out.
Turn pincushion inside out, carefully inspecting corners and seams.
Fill pincushion with crushed walnut shells (found online or at a pet store as lizard bedding). With matching needle and thread, sew opening closed with tiny stitches. For a decorative touch, add a fancy button in the middle. Using embroidery floss and a large needle, starting from the top and leaving a long end hanging, sew through to the bottom, then back up and through the button holes, then back down through both the button and pincushion and up again, then only down through the button and double knot the ends of the floss together twice and sew the ends through the pincushion and snip at the bottom. This way the seam is hidden!
Have fun!
If you have any questions on how to make these pincushions or want to see another fall pin cushion I made, please see beaquilter.com.
