Sunday, October 16, 2016

Annie's Pincushion!

Hello Everybody!
How have you all been? I hope you are all
crafting!

I bet you think that I forgot about you, but that
is not so. Sometimes it takes me a while to put
something together. Sometimes what I have
planned does not always look right or go
together, so I scrap it and move on. That
generally takes me on hunts.

This is the last of my half- doll pincushions that I
will make for a while. I have more half-dolls that
need pincushions, but my aim here was to
show you how I make and put these pincushions
together. Believe me anyone can do this.
Do not worry about ever washing these pincushions,
because there is no way to do so unless you take
them apart and remake them. When you purchase
an old one from the net because it has not been
washed in about 50 years or longer, then it is
time to renew the pincushion and update it all
to your liking!
However some of them are vintage and are so
sweet that perhaps you just want a vintage one
sitting around. Nothing is wrong with that folks!
Just spray some Febreeze on it if it smells!
I love vintage also!!

After this listing, next month I was going to post
little patterns on different sizes of the cushions.
But there is not any need for that. If you read here
about the strips, (further down), then you will see
that you can
make the strips as wide or as tall as you want.
I will post pincushion patterns for these
half-dolls that are unusual. I love unusual and
different as they show character to the pieces.

By now, everyone that enjoys making these
pincushions know how easy they are. The
directions for Annie's Pincushion is simple,
and some of it you can refer back to the other
Pincushion directions, if you do not understand.

ALWAYS REFER BACK TO MY PREVIOUS
PINCUSHIONS DIRECTIONS, ALWAYS LINK
BACK!!! THANK YOU!!

Annie's Pincushion will be sent to her by the end
of this week. It must go to England!
She turned out lovely - don't you think so!
The height of Annie is 7 to almost 7.5 inches tall.
Front of Annie!

Back of Annie!

This is the fabrics that I had planned for Annie. All
of these fabrics blended so well with her blouse.
These worked up so nicely. I only had problem with
the fabric on the left. It was so stiff and stood out
like a pumpkin. As you can see, I did not use it!
I scrapped that idea and opted for a lovely stiff
lace to go around the bottom of the dress and the
same lace to go around the waist.
The inside of the fabric was a lovely Barbie gown
that I used because I could not find anything that
matched the way that I liked.
The other 2 surrounding fabrics were brand new.

I started out with 4 pieces of the solid green fabric.
Each of the 4 strips measured a little over 2.5 inches
wide X 7 inches tall to accommodate the seams.
If you want this fatter or wider, then merely adjust
the strips by cutting them taller or wider.
SUPER EASY!!

Next, sew them by the machine for
strength into a tube! Try not to make
your seams too big as this will cut
down on the size of the pincushion
that you are trying to make.

This is by far my most favorite of making these
pincushions! I love to turn down a hem to the
inside on the bottom and top.
As you can see, just turn under a small piece of
the top and hand sew it all around. I use quilting
threads with small quilting needles. To give the
thread even more strength, double it up.

After you sew it all around, gather it up tightly and
knot it off. You want a small hole.

Take some cardboard and a template of some kind.
I use a lid here that measures almost 3 inches around.
I am using cereal boxes, so I cut out 2 pieces of
this cardboard and glue together for strength.
Let dry for a couple of hours before proceeding on.

I have inserted the cardboard inside of the tube.

This is a big zip-lock bag full of cotton stuffing.
I use cotton batting for all of the pincushions.
It is better for the needles. I cut it up and put
it into the bags and use it when I need it.
This is easier for me. The bag is generally
really stuffed with the cotton batting, even
though you cannot tell it!!

Like I have said many times, stuff your pincushions
really hard. Things settle over time.

Once you have finished stuffing, turn under a small
piece of the fabric and hand sew all around the edge.
Knot it off and gather it tightly,

She is finished. Only thing to do now is to even
out the pincushion with my hands by pushing and
moving the cotton stuffing around.

Here is the top.

I will not go into attaching the half-doll onto
the pincushion again, as by now you probably
know how to do it. If not just take a look back at
the other pincushions.
Annie is now attached!

Also I did not add any directions here on the
skirt, cause the other dolls show how to do so.
Annie before anything is added to her skirt!

A picture underneath Annie's skirt!

I only had a little bit of the lace for this doll's
gown. I hand sewed it on. When doing this, do
not cut off any lace, wait until you finish sewing
it on before you cut off any excess.

Sewing around!

Almost finished sewing!! When you come to the
end always leave about an inch of the lace before
cutting off the excess so that you can turn under
the raw edge. Afterwards I folded in the sides
of that raw edge and hand stitched down
the length of the lace to the bottom edge so that the
lace did not just stick up.

The pincushion dolls always need something
around their waist to finish them off.

 I was lucky to have just enough of the lace to
gather up and affix around her waist. I then took
a long length of lovely ribbon and tied around
her waist tightly. Then I tied it into a lovely bow. 

It is evident that the dress needed something more!

It took me a while to find something that had a lining
attached to it.
I ended up using a child's slip that I think was vintage!
Hey, I remember wearing them!
Anyway the slip was 2 pieces, an overskirt with
an underskirt. This was perfect!!

So, I cut off a piece of the skirt. Cut off bigger
so it gathers. A good rule of thumb as to how much
or how wide to cut off of an existing skirt is, that
you need a good width for fabrics that are thin.
Cut off at least 12 inches wide and measure the
height of the pincushion and add about an 1.5 inch
for the top. Turn down a hem to the inside and in
my case here, you must try to keep the overskirt
bottom lace edge even with the underskirt hem as
good as you can. It is slippery!
Pin it or keep it even as you go with your fingers
and hand stitch down as you go keep adjusting
it as you stitch around.
Again I always use quilting thread and a quilting
needle. Always double the thread when gathering
for strength.
Be sure to leave a long piece of thread when you
finish sewing the hem down. Cut it off and then
knot it.

Put the skirt on over the pincushion and draw up
the threads tightly and knot it tightly about 3 times.
Then cut off the threads leaving a half inch tail
behind. Then take your fingers and lightly smash
in the gathers around the doll and under her if
possible. Always refer back to the previous directions
for the half-doll pincushions as each one tells
you new tips that I have learned along the way.

A view of the top of the slip.

Annie is all finished!!!

 A peek of her 2 slips or underskirts!

The back of Annie!!
Enjoy!!
Thank you for visiting me!

No comments: