Pin Cushion Tutorial

Hi all,

I have been working on some sewing items for a club project I will be teaching.  I thought I would share with you this simple method for making a pin cushion.

You will need:

• a needle and cotton
• a pony bead
• a 2p to use as a template
• some felt in the desired colour of your cushion
• some green (or brown) felt for the decoration on top
• scissors

First cut a circle of felt slightly larger than your 2p.

Using your needle and thread do a running stitch around the outside of your circle.  Leave a 2mm gap to prevent fraying.

Put your pony bead in the centre of your circle of felt then pulling on the cotton gather up the edges so your pony bead becomes trapped inside.

Pull the gathered edge of the felt tight so the pony bead is no longer visible.  Secure the top with a few stitches.

Now you need to stitch through the hole in the centre of your pony bead then come up round the outside of your cushion 6 times so the thread creates segments on your cushion. Secure the thread at the top.

Now you need to cut out your leaf decoration, a simple flower shape from green felt.

Stitch the leaf to the top of your cushion which will cover up the gathered edge of the felt.  Cut off your remaining thread....and voila a finished pin cushion. 

You can make them in any colours you like.  The only limit is your imagination.  Small pieces of thin wire can be stuck into the felt to simulate pins.  Smaller versions of the cushions can be made with smaller pony beads and thinner felt.

Enjoy

Natalie xx

A new blog to check out!

Hi all,

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, minis have been a bit thin on the ground recently. I have started back at work after my summer holidays and have been really busy.  To try and compensate take a look at my sister Lorraines' new blog.  I have been nagging her for ages to start one as she makes and sells some really amazing minis.  She hasn't many posts as yet but hopefully with a bit of encouragement she'll add some more.

http://lollysminis.blogspot.com/

Thanks

Natalie x

1/12 Scale Wands

Hi all,

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but I have been away on holiday and visiting my family which were both lovely. 

I hope you like my newest minis, I turned some wizard/witches wands using my mini drill.  I have only decorated a couple of them, but plan on decorating more. 

Wizard Roombox

Thanks for the great feedback on my broom, especially from Michelle who prompted me to show you more pictures of the wizards room box it is in. 

I made my wizards room box a couple of years ago on a weekend course run by a lovely lady called Sue Simpson.  She designed it herself so all the credit for the great layout and features go to her.  (check out her webshots page here with more examples of her amazing work http://community.webshots.com/user/suedsimpson)

It is made using paperclay, a medium I wanted to know how to use having seen Rik Pierces breath taking work and also Sues (who was taught by Rik), so she recommended I do the course which I loved. 

Here is the finished room box.

It has lots of great features...the window on the left has a moon in it and the one on the right has a tree with an owl in it.  Sue cast the fireplace and windows from resin and we were taught how to lead the acetate and how to paint the frames so they look like old stone. 

If you look carefully you can see an owl perched in the tree outside.  The whole box is lit, something else she taught us, we even made the light fittings ourselves

Here are some more pictures of the box when it is lit. 

You are probably wondering why when I made this 2 years ago it is not finished yet.  I agree it is a little empty but the truth is I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my minis and while I have a box full of little bits to go inside I am still looking for the perfect table.  I know what it should look like in my head, I just have to find it.....or make it! Then I can cover it in all sorts of wizardy stuff.

I hope you liked seeing my wizards room box.  If you have any questions about it please feel free to ask. 

natalie x

A wizards broom

Hi all,

thanks for the great feedback on my last post, I have been playing around with making a couple of magical items, perhaps its because I have been re- watching the Harry Potter films on Saturday afternoons recently!  Anyway I had a go at making a broom and here it is in my wizards room box.

I'm not sure whether it is a Nimbus 2000 or a firebolt but I think it fits into my wizards room pretty well.

Mini Shabby Chic Dressing Table and using transfers

Hi all,

Firstly let me say thank you for all the positive comments on my recent posts.  Its really great to get such nice feedback. 


At the moment it seems like I have a mini obsession with making shabby chic stuff.  Today I made a mini dressing table using spindles and lollipop sticks. 

It was painted with white emulsion then sanded back and a transfer applied on the top.  The drawer opens and closes and the handles are made of a piece of bracelet from the £1 shop.  

I have been using transfers alot recently too.  I made a simple backing from coffee stirrers which was painted and sanded back to look shabby then a transfer applied. 

The first one I made was this fish design, then I made the pair below using flower transfers. 

That's all for now, hope you like them.

1/12 scale shelf

Hi all,

Yesterday I made a couple of minis.  The one I would like to share is this shabby shelf. 

I have seen ones similar around so I cannot take credit for the design, but I have adapted it a little making the top and base from contrasting wood to the main part.  The body is made from lollipop sticks which have been painted white then sanded back to give a shabby appearance though it is hard to see in the photo.  The curtain pole is a cocktail stick and the curtain a scrap of fabric. It measures 5.5cm tall and 5cm wide.

I hope you like it.

Natalie

1/12 scale toy push along dog

Hi all,

I have been a little quiet lately, it has been the first week of the summer holidays and been doing nothing much which has been very nice thank you ;o)

I have made a couple of minis.  The one I want to share today is a miniature toy push along dog. 

He is made using a pipe cleaner and felt body with leather ears and collar and bead eyes and nose.  The base is made from lollipop sticks and cocktail sticks with press studs for wheels . 

The whole thing is a little over 3cm tall and the wheels really go round.  Hope you like him.

Natalie

Kitchen utensil rack and utensils for my kitchen

Hi all,

I started off today a little uninspired but then came across a sketch I had made a while ago of a kitchen utensil rack to go into my continental style kitchen. 

I have seen copper tools for sale, but after a misadventure when trying to tarnish some mini copper pots (where I discovered that they were merely copper plated and my tarnishing stripped this leaving an unpleasant silver finish) I decided to have a go at making some for myself using some copper sheet I had bought from the local model shop ages ago.

I hope you like my finished rack and tools.  I am very pleased with it as I made everything from scratch.   

A fab blog!

Hi all,

check out this great blog: http://joannswansondiyminiatures.blogspot.com/
It has an online tutorial to make a potting bench and all the accessories.   

If you check out the older posts there are more tutorials.