Finishing the Lucky 2B a Quilter pincushion

Everybody needs a little luck! In yesterday’s post I started to make a rainbow pincushion using the PFAFF performance icon. The body came together quickly and I decorated it with several of the built in animal stitches. Today’s post will add a few more fun details using the PFAFF performance icon before completing the pincushion.

I wanted to add words to the rainbow pincushion and decided to stitch out a little label. The performance icon has the Sequence program that is accessed by pressing the SEQUENCE CREATOR at the bottom of the Multi-touch screen. From inside the program I selected one of the six built-in fonts to make my mini statement. I really like how the keyboard comes up at the bottom of the screen to use and then can tuck away at the push of an icon.

I chose the Comic alphabet after stitching with the Block alphabet first; the line that crosses the lowercase t is very short in the Block alphabet and got lost in all the tall letters. Plus, I needed to edit and decrease the length of my words so they would fit on the pincushion. This was easy to do; once I was happy with my sequence and had added the stop and cut commands, I selected OK and the machine moved the sequence into Sewing mode. From this screen I selected STITCH EDIT from the bottom menu and decreased the stitch width.

I decided to save the sequence so I could use it again. All I had to do was press the heart icon at the bottom edge of the Multi-touch screen; a pop-up screen opened with different options for me to save the stitch, including whether to make a new folder and then to save it in mySEWnet or on a USB device. I could also rename the stitch to make it easy to find again.

I stitched out the label on a contrasting piece of fabric cut a little larger than I would use it in the project. You’ll see I actually ended up making two of these pincushions after deciding my pink thread choice didn’t do justice to the cute animal stitches.

Once complete, trim the label to 1¼″ x 3¾″.

To attach the label to the pincushion I first folded the pincushion body in half and positioned the label about ½” from the folded edge. I decided to center the label in the three middle colors. Then I carefully unfolded the pincushion and put a pin in the label to keep it in position for stitching.

Then I selected a decorative stitch to secure the label; I used the needlework stitch 3.1.20 which requires presser foot 2A.

Fold the pincushion body in half right sides together with the same fabric lining up at the long edge. Sew around the outside leaving a turning gap at one of the short ends. Use the reverse button to sew a few stitches before the gap. Turn the pincushion right side out, trim and push out the corners.

Add your heavy filler; I used crushed walnut shells. Don’t overstuff! I almost decided to hand stitch the gap closed out of fear that my crushed walnut shells would spill out and into the machine. I decided on a little less fill and carefully machine stitched across the end of the pincushion.

The rainbow pincushion is a bright happy reminder of how lucky I am while I stitch away on the PFAFF performance icon. The stitched label is a fun finishing touch to this project. I might have gotten a wee bit carried away with this luck idea – come back tomorrow and see what else I made!