Teacup Cupcake Pincushion

A pincushion isn't a costly item, usually. You can buy them all day long for a couple of bucks. But even though I sew a lot, and I own more than one pincushion, none of them were purchased at a store. I've always made my own pincushions because I could create ones that were more unique - and less expensive - than those sold at a store. I've made wrist pincushions, ring pincushions, and even a pincushion from a child's dump truck. One of the cutest, and cheapest ever, was the one I made from a teacup. Since I already had the cup, and some old sweaters needed to make it, it really cost nothing. If you have a cup - or even a soup bowl - you can easily make a cupcake-in-a-cup pincushion and it will be a useful accent in your sewing area.

You'll need two different colors of felt or felted sweater material. Measure how tall the cup is and cut the width of the felt pieces to be slightly wider than the cup is tall. Cups differ in diameter so there is no set length for the felt. To decide how long the felt should be for your particular teacup or bowl, lay one felt piece on top of the other, and roll them, from one end to the other. When the rolled felt is about as large around as the teacup, cut the felt to that length.

As stated above, cut the felt, stack it, then roll the two pieces from one end to the other. It's important that you make the roll very tight. When you're finished rolling, use a pin to secure. Set the roll aside for now and begin applying the glue to the inside of the cup. Spread a thick layer of tacky glue on the inside bottom, and a thin layer on the sides.

Unhook the pin while you keep the roll as it is. Put the rolled felt into the cup, pressing it down to make contact with the gluey bottom. Push the sides of the "cupcake" up against the sides of the teacup to fasten. If you want to make the cupcake look more realistic, and less flat on top, slightly pull some of the inner layers up a little, to create a dome top. If you want, finish with a pom-pom on top, to represent a cherry.

Set the teacup cupcake pincushion close to your sewing machine to use. Or, if you collect pincushions, display it with the others. It's as adorable as can be yet can be used on a daily basis.