Tutorial Repurpose Pincushion Jar

Hello Friends. In anticipation for my first book, called Scrap Patchwork, I have a tutorial.

Before we move on. I have to talk about Scrap Patchwork. It’s a DIY book on making organized scrappy quilts. I talk about color and organizing your stash. You’ve gotta check it out. Check out some of these yummy quilts.

 

Today, let’s me show you have to make a pincushion out of reusable jars. I’ve been saving glass jars at home with the hope of doing something crafty and magical with them. I’ve seen the mason jar pin cushions, but the jars I’ve save are from baby food, pesto, salsa, spaghetti, and jelly. They don’t come with a hole in the lid. I’d like to reuse the jars to make a pin cushion and place sewing goodies to store inside. In this tutorial we will learn how to make a repurpose pin cushion jar with steel wool.



Materials:

Reusable Jars

Henry Easy Release Adhesive Remover

Grade OO Steel Wool (or polyfil stuffing)

Spray Paint

Fabric Scrap twice as big as the diameter of the lid

Stiff Craft Felt

Ribbon (wide enough to cover the lid’s height and long enough to cover the circumference.)

Embellishments

Tools:

Hammer

Scissors to cut metal

Ruler

Hot Glue Gun

General sewing supplies

Jar Stuffing:

Pins

Needles

Scissors

Buttons

Thimble

Instructions:

Feel free to pick any size of jar you want. I tend to like small and pretty things. Here I have selected an old salsa jar.

To clean the jars, I took a trip to Home Depot to figure out some option to remove the labels and glue from the jars. In the past, I’ve use Goo Be Gone, but it just seems too much work to remove the adhesive. I wanted a product to pour into a bucket, place the jars inside, come back later and yay, the label and sticky adhesive have melted away. This product did the trick.  Also at Home Depot, I picked up the steel wool. I wanted to fancy up my pincushion by using steel wool instead of a polyfil stuffing. Steel wool sharpens the pins as they are pushing in and pull out of the pincushion. This was another luxury I felt was worthy of an investment.

As the adhesive remover is doing it’s thing, we need to cut a hole in the lid. I ventured out to the garage, grab a hammer and nail. I picked a nail that was thick. 

 

 

Then I hammer a hole in the lid. I made three holes in the center of the lid.  I took my scissors to then cut out a circle. Be very careful not to cut yourself with the raw edges.



This lid was quite orange. I didn’t want o risk the chance that any orange would show through my finished pincushion. I spray painted the edge of the lid and under.

Take a piece of stiff felt to trace the circumference of the lid. Cut the circle out. Then trim away about 1/8” of the circle. This piece goes on the back side of the lid to provide a polish look.

Place the lid to the center of the fabric scrap. Measure 2” larger on all side of the lid, making a circle. Cut the circle out. This doesn’t have to be perfect.

Either hand sew the edges of the fabric circle or use your sewing machine. I used my sewing machine and maximize my stitch length to 6.0mm. I stitched around the circumference of the circle with a 1/4” seam allowance. Make sure you start and end with a long tread tail. Set aside.

Open the bag is steel wool. This gets messy. I open my bag inside a box I had laying around. Take a portion of wool out of the bag and begin to pull it apart. Once you obtain the amount of wool you need. Roll is back into a ball. Judge whether you need more or less based on your jar size.

Place the steel wool to the center of the fabric. Gently gather the thread to enclose the wool inside the fabric.

I took a needle and thread to hand stitch to secure the gathering. Though, make sure you haven’t tugged the closure in so tight, that now the size of your pincushion is too small for your lid. Place around with the pincushion to your desire. Flatten it or make it more puffy.

Hot glue the pincushion to the top of the lid. Make sure you glue the edge of the lid to the pincushion.

Flip the lip over. Hot glue the felt circle on the back side of the hole. (Note. I forgot to take a picture of this at the moment and had to come back to it when I had already finished decorating it.)

To finish the pincushion jar, the fun part. Glue ribbon around the circumference of the lid. Embellish. Have fun. Add some fun goodies to the inside.

Screw the lid on the jar. There you have it. A repurpose pincushion jar. Yes. The mason jar with the precut hole would make this project run faster, but any chance I have to reuse already bought items, I’m willing to give that a try.

Now that you have all the ingredients to make your very own pincushion jar, it’s your turn to make it blossom.

Enjoy!

Sandra