I’m forever sticking pins places they shouldn’t be!  An armrest, my shirt, my mouth, among other places.  Since having a toddler around, this is generally bad because he sees me do it, but then I tell him not to and he doesn’t understand why.  So I needed a pincushion that was small enough to move around the house and stable enough not to wobble when I put pins in it.  I have the standard tomato pincushions, but I’ve never been fond of them.  They tend to move when I go to stick them. I have one that is too big to tote around for small projects and another that is falling apart.

I found a helpful tutorial on VintageImageCrafts.com, though theirs is made with a teacup, any vessel would work!

Scraps to the rescue!

I had a little ceramic pot that I picked up at a thrift shop for a quarter.
I filled the bottom with cotton fabric selvages and packed it tightly.

I took some left over wool batting and loosely wadded it in a scrap of cashmere.  I gathered up the edges pulling them together into a ball shape.

For size comparison… the ball is almost the same size as the pot.

I secured the ball in the pot by running a bead of hot glue around the rim and pushing the ball down into it.

Here is the finished result.

Since all the materials reclaimed or recycled, the cost was less than 50 cents.

It is nice a heavy, so it doesn’t topple or move when I put pins in it.  And it is small enough to scoop up and take with me where ever I am in the house.