make a teacup pincushion

I've had these tiny vintage teacups for a couple of years, thinking I'd make candles out of them. Today, I decided to make one into a pincushion for my lovely mom.

If you'd like to make one, here's what you'll need.

a small teacup (mine is not the usual sized teacup -- of course, if your teacup is regular sized, you can size up your pincushion to match)

poly stuffing

a 6 inch circle of coordinating cotton midweight fabric

needle

thread

hot glue gun

rubber gloves, if you are hot glue challenged and thrice burned, like me

Thread your needle, no knot, and sew a big running stitch all around the wrong side perimeter of the circle of fabric. Leave a long tail so you don't pull your thread through. I sewed about a quarter inch from the edge. If you know how to make yo yos, this is just like that, without the extra fold.

Gather your circle of fabric into a little pouch, leaving a small hole to stuff through, and tie off the ends securely.

Stuff, and stuff, and stuff until it's nice and compact and smooth. Using small pieces of stuffing rather than large blobs will make this look nicer. Squash it around to make it look even. (you could embellish the pincushion more at this stage than I did -- add a fabric button on the top, for instance, or some ribbon criss crossing)

Apply liberal amounts of hot glue in the bottom and sides of your cup, taking care not to come too close to the top. Squash your pincushion down firmly into the glue. This is where you might need gloves -- the glue makes the cup HOT.

Done. Put some coordinating pins in it and wrap it up for your sewing friend. Or keep it for yourself!