How to:

make a toadstool pincushion

kootoyoo…click & stitch

• Bread & butter plate, rice, kitchen wrap, toilet roll or cardboard tubing needle & thread, scissors, stuffing, embroidery floss.

Step 2:

• Position the bread & butter plate on your toadstool fabric & cut out a rough circle shape

Step 3:

• Cut out smaller circles of your contrast fabric (for the toadstool spots).

Step 4:

• It’s important to remember that not all of your toadstool fabric will be visible so you’ll only need a few spots. I like odd numbers but that’s just me.

Step 5:

• Using double thread, just do a running stitch around your toadstool circle.

Step 6:

• This is what it should look like when finished. Set aside for later.

Step 7:

• Now running stitch around your smaller circles.

Step 8:

• Once you’ve finished “running” around each circle add a small amount of stuffing to the centre of your circle.

Step 9:

• Gently ease both ends of the thread together just as you would if you were gathering or making yo-yo’s. Knot the ends together. You should have a nice puffy round shape.

Step 10:

• Repeat for each of your toadstool spots.

Step 11:

• Randomly position your spots towards the centre of the base fabric. I’ve just attached the spots using a simple running stitch but blanket or other decorative stitches would work just as nicely.

Step 12:

• Once you’ve attached all your spots your larger circle should look something like this.

Step 13:

• Add a handful of stuffing to the centre of your toadstool.

Step 14:

• Gently ease both ends of the thread together just as you would if you were gathering or making yo-yo’s. Knot the ends together. It’s important that your opening is smaller than your cylinder (you don’t want the stuffing to fall out).

Step 15:

• You should have a nice puffy round shape for your toadstool top.

Step 16:

• Cut your toilet roll/cylinder at about the 1/3 way point (2.5 – 3cms) so that your stalk is cute & stumpy. This will make the pincushion more stable so it won’t keep tipping over when you insert pins.

Step 17:

• Position your cylinder onto your stalk fabric. You want the fabric to comfortably go around the cylinder with a seam allowance of around .5 cm. The fabric should be about four times as long as your cylinder.

Step 18:

• With right sides together, pin your fabric around your cylinder.

Step 19:

• With right sides together, running stitch along the pin line.

Step 20:

• Turn your tube in the right way.

Step 21:

• Gently ease the cylinder inside your fabric tube.

Step 22:

• Slide the cylinder down so that you have about 1.5cm of fabric above the cylinder. Fold this to the inside of the top of the cylinder.

Step 23:

• Poke the fabric at the bottom of the cylinder up through the cylinder.

Step 24:

• Pass your needle & thread from one side of the fabric tube through to the other.

• Wrap the thread around the fabric cylinder several times (between 10 & 15 times) & then make a couple of stitches & knot the end off to secure.

Step 25:

• Now your stalk should look like this at the base…just as if it were plucked from the earth.

Step 26:

• Turn your stalk so that the open end is facing up.

Step 27:

• Place a small amount of rice onto a square of kitchen wrap.

Step 28:

• Gently roll to form a sausage shape.

Step 29:

• Curve your rice sausage to form a donut shape. Ease around the centre of your stalk & inside the cylinder.

Step 30:

• Your stalk should look now look something like this.

Step 31:

• Trim the excess stalk fabric.

Step 32:

• Place your stalk onto your toadstool top.

Step 33:

• Stitch the stalk to the toadstool top.

Done!

• Cute & functional!