Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Wrist Pin Cushion Tutorial

Don't forget to check out my giveaway for SMS Giveaway day here. You have until 5/25/12 to enter!

Back in November I bought my daughter this cool watch set. It had one watch face and 4 different colored slap bracelet bands that went with it. Yes, I said slap bracelet. There I go, showing my age again..., anyway! How many times do you think I have seen her wearing said watch since then? Dare  I say it, one time. There you go. Buy them something cool and they just don't care. So I decided I would just scrounge it up and wear it myself. Only problem: I can't find the watch face. I found the bands under her bed. I'm still looking but, in the meantime, I had an idea. I had been watching reruns of Project Runway and saw one of the designers wearing a wrist pin cushion. Eureka! And my brain started running with it.
How do you do it, you say? Well, I'm glad you asked!
You will need:
  • an open faced watch band/ a Nano wrist carrier will also work (I have a Minnie Mouse one I'm going to use to make another one of these)
  • scrap of fabric at least 4 times the size of the watch face hole
  • scissors
  • thread
  • needle
  • cardboard
  • pin/pencil

Pick the band you want to use and some fabric for the pincushion.
The circular part of my watch band was removable. Trace the circle onto cardboard. It is best to trace the smallest outside circle.
You will need to trim it down until you can pop it into the watch face and have it lay flat on the back.
Trace a circle on the fabric that is no ~4 times larger than your cardboard circle. My cardboard circle was about an inch, so my fabric circle was about 4 inches wide.
Sew around the edge like you would for a yoyo. Don't know how to make a yoyo? DIYDish has a great little video on it right here. I tend to make mine with a finished edge just because that's how I learned to make them but it does not matter for this project.
Stuff your yoyo with polyfil or whatever filling you prefer. Make sure it is stuffed pretty well (I had to pull mine open and stuff more). Place your cardboard circle in the bottom to close.
Pull your yoyo tight keeping the cardboard in place. It will keep the polyfil from moving around and coming out. Tie off your thread end a couple of times and trim. This part does not have tobe pretty because you aren't going to see it.
Manipulate the pincushion into the watch face hole of the band. The cardboard needs to be pushed all the way into the hole and pressed against the back.
And here is the finished project! I thought it turned out pretty stinkin' cute for a refurbish. And when the watch face shows up in my daughter's room, I can pull it out and use it as a watch again...or I could just use one of the other bands!  I hope you like!

5 comments:

Createology said...

Very stinkin cute and sew much better than putting the pins in our teeth. :o)
Thank you for the tutorial.
Blissful Stitching...

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

Yea! Now you have a wrist pin cushion again. Nice job!

M-R Charbonneau said...

What a great idea, Melinda!

Anonymous said...

Great idea!

Mitzi said...

you come up with the best ideas! great repurposing!