Sewing Pretty Little Pincushions: The Bottle Cap Pincushion Tutorial

A few years ago, while visiting a Quilt Show I came across a darling display of tiny little pincushions that immediately caught my eye! I love all things miniature and this looked like a tiny little cake! The secret to the perfect little circular shape is a bottle cap, you heard me right, a bottle cap! Pair it with some wool felt, adorable ribbon, your hand sewing skills, and make a teeny tiny keepsake pincushion for years to come!

Follow along in this video to see how easy this is to make!

Supplies needed:

• Wool Felt 
• Ribbon just a bit wider than the height of the bottle cap. For this project, I've used the 7/8" width Singer sewing machine ribbon found at Renaissance Ribbons. They currently only have it in a blue/black color. There is also a Bernina ribbon which would work too!
• Embroidery floss
• Hand sewing needle with large eye for embroidery thread
• And a bottle cap (this one is from the top of a Coffee-Mate Creamer bottle)

 

You can see the full tutorial in the video, but I also have the basic instructions outlined here for reference. 

1. Place the bottle cap on the felt and trace a circle matching the shape of the cap. Cut the fabric circle.
2. Cut a square  piece of felt about an inch larger than the diameter of the cap. Trim off the corners to shape it into a rough circle.
3. Wrap the ribbon around the bottle cap, overlapping it about 1/2” and cut it to length. Apply fray check to each cut end to reinforce and keep it from fraying. Thread a hand sewing needle with regular sewing thread, matching the color of your ribbon. Wrap the ribbon around the cap, fold one end under for a clean finish, overlap and whip stitch the end together.
4. Place the small felt circle on the flat side of the bottle cap, this is the bottom. Thread an embroidery hand sewing needle with 3 strands of floss. Using a blanket stitch stitch around the entire perimeter of the circle. Pay special attention to your stitch width to keep it nice and consistent all the way around. If your thread is long enough, pull it through to the top side and set aside.
5. Using thread or floss, stitch a large running stitch around the larger felt circle. Pull the thread to gather up the edges firming a ball. Fill the ball with the polypill stuffing. Stuff it as tightly as you can and pull the gathering thread tight to form a very firm felt ball. Tie off the ends of the thread to secure. 
6. Bring back in your ribbon trimmed cap. Test the fit. If your ball seems too small, add a bit of stuffing or rice to the base of the cap and then place the ball back in. Sew the top edge of the ribbon to the felt ball using a blanket stitch. (To see an in-depth tutorial on sewing the blanket stitch, check out the Heart Treat Bag Tutorial video the blanket stitch is shown at 2:18.) Try to keep your stitches consistent with the ones you sewed along the bottom edge. Continue to stitch all the way around the perimeter. When you get to the end you can tie off the thread or you can continue to stitch a decorative design around the top of the felt ball. We’re going to tie off the end and add an embellishment to the top just like the cute examples shown in the video. 
7. Cut a small piece of felt, fold in half and cut a heart shape. Begin by pulling the knotted end of the thread under the appliqués piece, then straight stitch the edges all the way around to stitch it down. Tie a know, trim it off, and there we have it! A pretty adorable tiny little pincushion!

 

 

 

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