Pin Keep aka Pin Cushion

Today I asked myself, "What goes better with a Needle Keep than a Pin Keep?"  Since I need one for myself anyway, I decided to make two; one for me and one to sell.

First I had been rummaging in my kitchen cabinets and discovered a jar and a half of instant ice tea mix from several years ago when I made a hot tea mix to give away for Christmas presents.  I will probably make it again this year and post the recipe but this instant tea was waaaaaaaaaay outdated! Like a couple YEARS outdated!  :D   Since I don’t want to poison those I give Christmas presents to (well ….. maybe ….. nah, my luck I would get caught lol oh well!) 

SO, 

I was about to throw them out when I decided that I might still be able to get some kind of use out of them.  I dissolved a large quantity in a mixing bowl and added very hot tap water and stirred to dissolve.  I then added in some lace and white material that I needed to make vintage looking!  I found that it did work and the more mix you add to the water and the longer you let it set, will get you the same results as the tea bag way of tea staining material!  Yay, I repurposed!

Here is the hand made Belgium Lace appliqués that I instant tea dyed.  They were snow white when I received them in the mail a few weeks ago.  Now they have that aged color to them!

 Ok, so I had on hand a jelly jar with lid and ring for each Pin Keep I planned to make along with lace, ribbon, stuffing, craft glue, and just a FEW odds and ends pictured here from my VAST inventory of bridal veil supplies.  I will have to get my veil site up and running here on my blog! What a great idea! Yay!

As you can see, I really AM in dire need of a new Pin Keep! lol

 Oh, this adorable tin belonged to my Grandma Bessie.  She always kept all her sewing notions in it.  I’ve been around this since I can remember (her and Papaw Oris raised me.)  She is the one who taught me to sew so it seemed appropriate to my cousins, that when Grandma passed away, I should get the tin.  I keep SOME of my sewing notions in it but it’s not large enough to hold them ALL J!

Here is the other lace I dyed in the instant tea mixture.  One was left in longer than the other two which is why one is darker.

This is my mug proving I’m the BIG DOG MOM in this house!
I used the mug to make a circle on the lace and backing material.

I used a highlighter and made a circle a little larger than the mug.  I wasn’t worried about the ink on the lace as the edges will not be showing .

I bought a lace blouse at the thrift store for $2.50 and cut it up to use the lace for crafts.  I cut the circle out of the lace and the backing material.

I laid the circles face down on my jelly jar ring.

I then grabbed a handful of stuffing and pushed it against the material making it poof out of the ring on the top side and then I placed the lid in to hold everything in place.

I then snipped the material so that it would lay flat when I glued it to the underside of the lid.  I later found out that what I needed to have done is just snip as much of it off as possible so that there is not too much bulk that might keep me from screwing the lid back onto the jar! DUH! lol

 I used the lid as a template (actually, unless you’re making more than one at a time, you really should do this step BEFORE you insert it into the ring with the material and stuffing!)  Sorry about that!

 I cut out the circle and then cut just lace, with NO backing material, 

in a circle slightly larger than my cardboard circle.  

Clip the lace around so that it can lay flat when you glue it down.

 I then put craft glue on the cardboard and glued the edges down to it.

 Then I found out that I had WAY too much material [bulk] to get the lid back on the jar so I pulled out the stuffing and the lace and backing and cut quite a bit off.  I used the marks left by the lid and ring as a guide and cut it just big enough for the edges to go slightly past the edge of the lid when put back together and stuffed.

I ended up not being able to get as much stuffing in as before due to the lack of extra material.  Screw the tops back onto the jars.  Here they are so far with the tops done.   Leave the tops on for a couple hours or until your glue container says it will be dry.

Once dry, take off the top and set aside.  Take craft glue and spread around the jar.  Then use your finger, or other appropriate item, and spread the glue evenly around the outside of the jar.

My next steps are not pictured but this is what I did with Pin Keep #1.  I cut a piece of lace and wrapped it around the jar and added a ribbon around the middle and tied in a bow.  I added a floral rose and little accessory flowers to the bow.  

What’s that in Pin Keep #2 you say?  Are those sewing needles?  Why would someone who just made a Needle Keep, have needles in their Pin Keep you ask?  WELL, I listed the one I made and haven’t had time to make another for myself yet! J

At this point I took a break as I needed some inspiration for the second pin keep.  I wasn’t completely satisfied with the first one so I wanted something different for the other.  During the time I was waiting for inspiration, my car broke down and I’ve been dealing with that.  Which is why this post was so long in coming!  I would have had this up Friday evening or yesterday morning! 

Now I’m back!

Ok, so to update you on what happened with this project between the last pic and this one is, The cushion popped out of the jar ring! Lol  So what I ended up doing, which works SO much better than the glue thing is this.  I took my circle of fabric and tacked it to the little lace covered cardboard with the jar’s lid in between the two.

 

I re-stuffed it once I had about half the pins in place and then finished pinning around.

I then sewed the top of the cushion to the bottom of the cushion so I didn’t have to worry about glue.

I ran a line of glue around the inside of the ring lip.  I pushed most of the stuffing into the center of the cushion and then popped it into the ring with the wet glue and then screwed it onto my jar and left it until dry.  Be sure to use a wet sponge or rag to wipe of any glue that gets onto the top of the cushion after sticking it through the wet glue ring.

As you can see I sewed a lace ruffle around the cushion to camouflage the ring.  I sewed a string of fake pearls around the ruffle.  I added eight loops of ribbon, stitched them on and then covered that stitching with a pretty button. 

Here they are.  Mine is the one on the left and the one for eBay is on the right.
Also pictured is the needle keep that I “re-did” after it didn’t sell on eBay for $4.99.
I think the big satin rose on the front just made it look too gaudy.

Pictures for eBay:

Well, that’s it for this installment!

I’m thinking of doing a little sewing for the next project or two. 

I’m in desperate need of a new purse! J

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!