Primitive Pin Cushion Tutorial

Learn how to make a primitive pin cushion. These are easy to make and don’t take a ton of supplies to put together. They are super cute and make a nice gift for your fellow fans of primitives. If you do craft shows, you make up a bunch of these in no time to sell.

Supplies needed make your primitive pin cushion:

wide unfinished wood candle base (Note: It’s recently been harder to find these, but you can make your own by gluing a round plaque (by Darice) onto a candle stick with wood glue.)
black paint and paint brush
scrap of fabric…at least 3 inches wider that the area you’re going to attach the cushion to.
needle and thread
button
hot glue gun
quilt batting
scissors
small piece of sturdy cardboard (don’t use poster board, it must be thicker than that.)

Instructions

Step 1: paint your candle base in black. A couple coats may be needed. Let dry. You can also use some sandpaper and distress the paint after it has dried. Leave the area that the cushion will be glued unpainted.

Step 2:

While that’s drying, trace the top of the candle stick onto your piece of cardboard. Cut it out 1/8″ INSIDE your line so it just a bit smaller than the actual size of your candle base.

Step 3:

Place your cardboard circle on top of layered quilt batting and cut out a total of 8 circles of batting. (I usually cut 4 layers at a time).

Step 4:

Lay your cardboard circle on the wrong side of your fabric and draw 1.5″-2″ bigger than your cardboard. Just eyeballing this is fine. Cut it out.

Step 5:

Use your needle and thread to hand stitch around your fabric circle about 1/4 from the edge. Make sure you’ve knotted off the end so it doesn’t slip through. Cut the thread leaving a long tail.

Step 6:

Time to sandwich all your pieces together! Lay your fabric right side down, place the batting in the center and the cardboard circle on the top. Push down with one hand and use your other hand to pull the thread tight. Be sure that the fabric comes over the edge all the way around. Knot off your thread.

Step 7:

Hand sew a button into the center of your cushion. You’ll go through all layers, including the cardboard.

Step 8:

Hot glue around the edge of the backside of the cushion and in the center to secure the thread. Attach to your candle base.

Make a great display for your shows in lots of beautiful prim fabric. You can use these steps to make cushions for paper mache boxes, jar lids and anything else with a flat top!

Submitted by Marnie Perry