Pincushion Embellishment Jar and Mini Purse

Sew Magazine Issue 19

I have to confess to having been slightly neglectful about making at least one thing out of each issue of the craft magazines I subscribe to. However, I made up for it a little bit by doing two small projects out of January's Sew Magazine.

The first make was this pincushion embellishment jar. As I've mentioned previously, I like making fancy jars for my crafting bits and I've always been fascinated about how you get the pincushion part to work. For this project, you made a cone of fabric for the pincushion, glued it round the jar lid and then snipped the top off to stuff the pincushion through the top. Nifty.

As it was December, clearly a Halloween theme was in order. I used a lovely pumpkin fabric I had in stash for the pincushion and then trimmed the jar with sparkly orange ribbon from HobbyCraft and a pumpkin button. As recommended by the magazine, I topped the pincushion with a pom pom to hide the stitching where the pincushion had been stuffed. I made this with a small Clover pom pom maker (they are brilliant) and superwash King Cole merino wool.

The only think I would say is that I think my jar lid was a bit small to use for a really nicely shaped pincushion. I do like using Hartley's jam jars for my stuff but a jar with a larger circumference might have been more effective. I'm working my way through a jar of Wild Strawberry Bonne Maman so I can give this technique another try.

My second project from the magazine was this purse. The finished product is really itty bitty - only a couple of inches wide and I'm using it to house my Whitby jet silver necklace.

The template in the magazine actually had the purse being made from a single piece of fabric with the seams kind of folded down. I dispensed with the seams and sewed on the line of the template through outer fabric, lining and sew-in interfacing to make a more substantial purse. I then trimmed round the purse outline, turned the fabric right side out and sewed up the sides.

I finished the purse off with a small press stud and a little white rabbit button to cover.

I don't know if I missed an enlarging instruction on the pattern or if it's because I changed the methodology that the purse is so teeny.I have actually enlarged the pattern now and plan to make a larger version to use as a normal purse. I do like the shape though.

So, two not-quite-perfect but fun makes...

Melx