Page 76 - Patchwork & Quilting - UK (February 2020)

REGULAR // wandering the web

Wandering

the web WITH CHRIS FRANSES

Tea Cup
Pincushion,
Debbie Shore

One of the fascinations of going to classes and workshops is seeing what students bring to class with them
– somehow we all seem to covet the fabric that someone else has; it always looks so much more interesting
than the ones we have chosen to bring. Then there’s all the gadgets and notions – the handy little scissors,
different types of unpicker and so on. And then there’s the pincushions (although I confess that mine is

usually the box the pins came in). There is so much variety from the shop-bought to the homemade. I’ve gone
wandering this month in search of pincushion patterns and tutorials, finding out along the way about the

diff erent ‘stuffings’ it is possible to use and a little about their history.

YouTube is full of tutorials on making different shapes, sizes
and types of pincushion. Some of the videos have patterns
you can download, others give you measurements and
instructions in the video or slideshow itself. I found a couple

of dozen different ones with just a quick search and I’m sure
that if you searched YouTube itself, rather than a general
search engine, you would find dozens more. Gourmet

Quilter has two pincushion videos – making a traditional
round cushion (bit.ly/34Dw7ff ) and a traditional strawberry
one (bit.ly/2Oqm9bh). The Fat Quarter Shop go in the other
direction with two quick and easy pincushions made with
small squares (bit.ly/2OuGaxa and bit.ly/2OtHn86) while Owl Pincushion, Pinterest, Caravan Pincushion, Carolyn Letten,
Jenny Doan on the Missouri Star Company video shows www.notyourmamasquiltstore.com www.crafts-beautiful.com
you how to make a chicken pincushion with larger squares
or mini orphan blocks (bit.ly/33wm8Xn). Debbie Shore has There were quite a few quick (around 5 minutes) video
a number of videos showing how to turn things such as tutorials, many with just music and captions, on making simple
teacups (bit.ly/35GUk47) and picture frames (bit.ly/34td7Qn) or novelty pincushions. I found these two that are quick and
into pincushions. Two more longer and detailed pincushion easy (bit.ly/2Owge4s and bit.ly/33uAUOs) which give a similar
tutorials come from Margaret Leuwen with her Cathedral looking cushion but use different methods to get there and

Window pincushion (bit.ly/2Otnmi8) – follow the link to the one from Teresa Downunder with a mini EPP pincushion
blog for more information; while ‘Man Sewing’ makes a (bit.ly/2OPZnZm). Novelty ones were an owl (bit.ly/2DsdM8P),
combined pincushion and thread tidy (bit.ly/2Dlwjnj). a hat (bit.ly/2DqE8If) a cupcake (bit.ly/2Ozr9KR) and an apple

74 British Patchwork & Quilting FEBRUARY 2020