Sew Simple Star Pincushion

Hi everyone! I'm Kimber from Heirlooms by Ashton House blog here to share my first project for the Moda Bake Shop. While trying to jazz up the traditional LeMoyne Star pattern for a quilt project one day, I came up with this whimsical star pincushion design. I chose the bright and cheerful Summer House fabrics by Lily Ashbury, which remind me of my garden in the summertime. This would make a great addition to your sewing room or a fitting gift idea for your sewing friends. After all, who can't use another colorful pincushion?

• 5 Layer Cake squares per pincushion (I used two each of two contrasting fabrics for mine, plus a third coordinating one for the button)
• 1/4 yard total of two different pom-pom trims
• One 7/8"-diameter cover button kit (you will need to make two buttons)
• Polyester fiberfill or filling of your choice
• Template plastic
• Diamond template (included in the Printer Friendly Version at the bottom of this post)
• Long doll needle
• Perle 5 cotton


1. Print the template (included in the Printer Friendly Version at the bottom of this post). Be sure to print it with "no scaling" or your template will be the wrong size (the template's dimensions are approximately 2¾" x 6½"). Then trace the diamond template on to the template plastic and cut it out on the line. The template includes a 1/4" seam allowance.

2. Place the template on the wrong side of a Layer Cake square and trace around it. For one pincushion, you will need eight diamonds from one fabric and eight diamonds from a contrasting fabric. You can fit six templates on one Layer Cake and you will need an additional Layer Cake square of the same fabric to trace an additional two templates. Repeat this step for the contrasting fabric.

3. Cut out each template. You will need a total of 16 for one pincushion.

4. Lay out the diamonds in a star design. You will need two stars—one for the front and one for the back.

5. With right sides together, sew two diamonds of contrasting fabrics. 

6. Continue sewing diamonds together until you have a total of four of them.

7. Repeat Steps 5 and 6 to create a second half star. Then piece the two halves together to create a star.

8. Repeat Steps 5-7 to create a second star, leaving an approximately 2 inch opening in the center for stuffing the pincushion later. Backstitch at the stopping and starting points to stabilize the stitches for stuffing. 

9. With right sides together, layer the two pieced stars so that like fabrics are on top of each other.

10. Pin the two pieced stars together. Using a ¼” seam allowance, sew around the entire perimeter of the star.

11. To create nice, sharp star points, clip the outer points. With all the points in this pincushion, it's important to clip for a smooth finish!

12. Clip the inner points so they will lay nice and flat when you turn the pincushion right side out. 

13. Turn the pincushion right side out. Gently push the harder-to-reach outer star points out with a pointed yet blunt object.

14. Starting with the star points and working your way toward the center, stuff the pincushion firmly with polyester or your choice of filling. Then slipstitch the opened closed. It doesn't matter if your center point matches perfectly because it will be covered with a button later!

15. Following the instructions on your cover button kit, cover two buttons with a coordinating fabric. 

16. Using a long doll needle and Perle 5 cotton, sew the two buttons to the center of the pincushion. Tufting puts a lot of tension on the thread and I find that Perle 5 cotton works better for this task than regular sewing thread because it's stronger. 

17. Trim eight balls off the pom-pom trim of your choice. 

For my pincushion, I used two contrasting colors of trims.

18. Sew the pom-poms to the tips of the star points. 

19. Fill your pincushion with pins and enjoy! You can make a colorful galaxy of star pincushions with the cheerful palette of Summer House fabric. Here are just a few color combos.

2 Layer Cakes will make 21 pincushions with fabric scraps to spare for other projects. They're so easy to make that you'll want to create some for your sewing friends, too!

Thanks for joining me and I hope you enjoyed my first tutorial for the Moda Bake Shop. I love making pincushions and have designed several over the years. To see more of my designs and my creative adventures, stop by my blog. And if you decide to make some of these fun pincushions, I'd love to see them. Please feel free to contact me at the email link on my blog.

Happy stitching!

Kimber
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