Project One - Hedgehog Pincushion
The pincushion is a great time-saving bit of kit that really does help, allowing you to store and reuse pins quickly while you are working. Pincushions come in a variety of guises, and their designs can be quite creative, as you can see from this cute little hedgehog...
- A piece of thick fabric 300 x 300mm for the upper body
- A piece of thick fabric 250 x 250mm for the base
- A piece of medium weight interfacing 250 x 250mm
- A large handful of stuffing
- A button or bead for the nose
- 2 buttons or beads for the eyes
- A piece of dark felt 30 x 60mm for the ears
- If you wish to use a lighter fabric for the face, you’ll need 100 x 150mm of a contrasting,
thick fabric.
How To:
1. Iron the medium weight interfacing to your chosen base fabric. This will ensure your hedgehog keeps its shape.
2. Cut one base and two side pieces from your chosen fabrics. Pin the two side pieces together, reverse sides out, and sew along the top seam. This will join the sides to form the main body.
3. Pin the body to the base, keeping the edges together. Sew all round, except for a 4cm gap at the back.
4. Turn the hedgehog inside out and fill tightly with your chosen stuffing.
5. Now for the tricky part: pull the hole closed and fold the frayed edges inside so that they can’t be seen. Pin this in place.
6. Using a thread that blends in as closely as possible with your fabric, oversew the hole closed. The main body of your hedgehog is now complete.
7. Sew a chunky button or bead onto the tip of the nose, and add two smaller ones for the eyes.
8. Glue or sew the ears in place.
Tips:
There are a couple of variations with this project; you can use a different colour fabric for the face, which does make it a little trickier, but gives the hedgehog a lot more character.
Thick fabrics work best with this project: tweed, denim, mock suede and heavy cotton are all good. If you do want to use thinner fabric, iron on some interfacing in a medium stiffness to give it a bit more resilience.
For the stuffing, you can use anything suitable, such as wool, polyester stuffing or the contents of an old pillow. The denser the stuffing, the better the pins will adhere to the cushion.
