« Pretty, Framed Desktop Pin Cushion Tutorial »
Monday, February 25, 2013 
I've mentioned before that my craftiness is cyclical. Right now I'm in a fabric kind of a phase. I want to sew, sew and sew some more.
While I move throughout the house while not sewing on my machine one thing has remained the same. I stick needles and pins wherever. Totally willy nilly. I had a voodoo doll pin cushion that I have managed to lose, which does me absolutely no good.
So when I was standing in line to check out at Michael's and saw these nifty, ornate frames in the $1 bins (by the way, what marketing genius thought of dollar bins?) I snapped up a bright pink one with little thought.
When I got home, I knew what to do with it, but the fact that it was bright pink was a bit off-putting. I love color, a lot, but I'm also incredibly matchy matchy and it just wasn't going to work in my office's color scheme. You may say the color scheme is "random colors dependent on the current piles of crap" but I'm being optimistic that I really will get my shizzy together and my color scheme will actually matter.
For this project you need:
- Little cheap frame (mine came from Michael's for $1)
- Small piece of fabric (scrap would work well)
- Hot glue
- Scissors
- Stuffing or Poly-Fil
- Cardboard
- Acrylic paint (optional)
- Liquid Gilding
(optional) and disposable brush
Here she is, my little, itty bitty frame. They came in lots of fun colors, I believe including green, orange and blue.
First you'll need to remove all of the stuff on the back that actually make this a frame. While most of it will remove easily, the glue may be a toughie for you, like it was for me. To remove stubborn glue, hit it in small sections with hot air from your blow dryer. Quickly scrape the glue away with something sharp, like a pocket knife. Keep going until all is nice and smooth.
If found a frame with a color that love, you're already halfway done! If not, you'll need to paint this puppy. I started with two base coats of a random acrylic paint that I rarely use (to get good use of it).
For my top coat I went with liquid gilding, because I'm basically addicted. You can use any paint you choose, though. You can distress by dry brushing another color into the crevices after your top coat has dried. Finish with polyurethane or another protective coat.
When all is said and done, we're going to need something to hold our puffy business together. So take a pencil and trace the general shape of your frame and then go in about a quarter of an inch and cut your cardboard out. Test to make sure it won't peek out over the edges in the end.
Next take your fabric and trim to where it is just a few inches bigger than your frame, maybe an inch all the way around.
Have your frame sitting with the back facing you and push your fabric into the center. Use hot glue to glue the fabric around the back edge of the frame, pleating when necessary. When finished, trim the excess fabric away.
Next shove a wad of stuffing into the opening.
Cover with your cardboard and use hot glue to set into place. If you use a decent amount of stuffing, it will take a bit of effort to get the cardboard to sit flush, but in the end you should be able to work it more easily as you get one side tacked down.
Set on your desk top and now you have a lovely place to catch all of your pins, plus if you take it on a crafty walkabout around your home, it's eye catching enough to be able to keep tabs on it! Hoping your week gets off to a great start - Happy Monday!
Linked up at Green Willow Pond What We Accomplished Wednesday!
Reader Comments (2)
Oh my goodness, this is awesome!! Definitely my favorite pin cushion I've ever seen. I am tempted to make myself one... if I can find a frame tiny enough!!
Mackenzie
www.heybirdfriend.com
I wish Michael's would sell online, then you'd have no problem, Mackenzie. Good luck finding one!