Mitten pincushions

The mittens are a little bulky so I used my iPhone to take the picts instead of using my scanner. If you click on them to get a larger view, you can see that some of them are handmade pins. Well, actually assembled pins. I tooks some pins with flat heads or pins with some pearl heads and put some beads and sequins on there with some glue. Make sure that the glue you use specifically says that you can use with metal or it will fall apart after awhile. Make sure the glue you use also dries clear.

You might have the problem with how to place the pin so it can dry upside down so the beads stay in place so the beads stay at the head of the pin.

Problem solved. I rolled up a smaller towel and wrapped masking tape around the ends so it would not unroll. I put it on top of a couple of large ziplock bag boxes. You can also use books. There is enough space inbetween to stick the pins upside down on the towel so the pins can dry upside down. That way the beads will stay upside down and near the head of the pin while it dries. The glue might push the bead up a little with the air bubbles. I would give the beads a push down when I was done to make sure they would all dry near the head of the pin instead of closer to the middle of the pin. I let them dry overnight.

The mitten part was pretty easy. I took squares of the screenprinted fabric and put them on some dyed muslin. I took some of that heat sheet/glue stuff to make sure the squares stayed in place so I could zigzap the edges in place. I took a mitten template and cut the shape out. I used fleece for the back. I have a ton of remnant fleece from Joann's. They have a lot of it now since they had the 50% off sale on all their fleece. I did a straight stitch with the mitten inside out. I left the bottom open. I turned it right-side out. I stuffed with fluff. Since this would be a hanging pincushion, I did not bother with rice or beans. I stuffed it enough so that I could sew the bottom with a zigzag a couple of times. I added a small strip of tape measure ribbon at the bottom for hanging. I hand sewed some flower sequins at the bottom of the mitten. At the same time, I put on a few small buttons in the middle of the mitten for contrast.

I found this great place on eBay that sold pins by the gross in great colors. I bought a few boxes so I could create my own pins. You can see the different colors that I got. They are the pins that are on the right mitten along the left edge. Email me if you want to buy or trade for a small quantity of the flower sequins. I have quite a bit of that. Comments welcome.