DIY How to Make a Flower Shaped Pincushion With Leaves - Bravo Dada! Sewing Tutorial

Hi everyone!

In this sewing tutorial I’m going to show you how to sew a flower shaped pin cushion with six leaves. If you love sewing and are looking to store your pins and/or needles to keep them organized and take hold of them easily, this sewing project is perfect for you. This pincushion also makes a lovely gift for friends and family.

Important note: I use the metric system and make the exact conversion from cm to inches in the hope of helping. Please adapt these measurements to your ruler.

Hope you enjoy this tutorial. 🥰🪡

NOTE: Dimensions in inches are approximated.

The materials and techniques I used are the ones I thought were the best for me as a self-taught creative seamstress. It doesn’t mean they are the best for you, so feel free to use your creativity and make it your own! You can adjust the measurements as you like and also add other features.

Start by cutting all the fabric pieces that you will need for this project.

Fabric measurements:

- 1 circle for the back and 1 circle for the front of the flower shaped pincushion with a diameter of 18cm | 7.1”

- 6 circles for the leaves with a diameter of 18cm | 7.1”

- 2 circles (1 from each fabric) with a diameter of 3.8cm | 1.5” for the covered buttons

Crochet Thread #12:

- 4m | 157.5”

Covered Buttons:

- Cover buttons with wire eye back

- Size 30 – 1.9cm | 0.7”

- Easy assembly tool included in the buttons pack (holder and pusher)

- Both assembly tools are perfect to assemble flat back (glue able) or wire eye back (sew able) cover buttons

- Additional information: the fabric circle for each cover button should be twice the diameter of your button blank

Needle sizes:

- 80/12 (universal sewing machine needle)

- 6cm | 2.4” (large-eye hand sewing needle)

Seam Allowance:

- 1cm | 0.4”

You will also need:

- Circles template

- Polyester hypoallergenic fiberfill

- Scissors

- Pinking shears (zigzag scissors)

- Wonder clips

- Sewing thread

- Seam ripper

- Heat erasable pen

- Measuring tape

- Seam roll & press

- Iron

- Ironing board

- Sewing machine

- Place the right sides of the front and back fabrics facing each other, as shown in the images.

- Draw the stitching line taking into account a seam allowance of 1cm | 0.4".

- Leave an opening of 4cm | 1.6" so you can turn the pincushion right side out.

- Mark the opening on one of the sides of the pincushion, as shown in the images.

- Adjust the stitch length according to your preferences.

- Use an 80/12 size needle.

- Sew both fabrics together following the stitching line.

- Using scissors, trim away the excess thread.

- Using pinking shears, trim away the excess fabric (except where the opening is).

- Press the opening of the cushion using a seam roll & press or the iron.

- Turn the pincushion right side out.

- Fold your circle in half and mark the center with a heat erasable pen. Then repeat this process folding the circle in another direction to make sure you're marking the center. Make this for the top and for the bottom of your pincushion.

- Instead of doing the previous step, and to simplify, you can fold your circle in half, then fold again to create a quarter circle and mark the center this way on both sides (top and bottom) with a heat erasable pen.

- Stuff your pincushion with polyester hypoallergenic fiberfill.

- Close up the opening with an invisible hand stitching.

- Use size 30 (1.9cm | 0.7") cover buttons with wire eye back.

- Cut your fabric circles. These should be twice the diameter of your button blank.

- Put the cloth circle on top of the holder, wrong side facing up. Leave the edges hanging out and make sure it is well centered, as shown in the images.

- Place the front of the cover button on top of the fabric and press it into the holder with your finger.

- Fold the fabric to the center of the cover button.

- Now place the wire eye back cover on top of your folded fabric, as shown in the images, and using the pusher (open side down) press it down until you hear a pop or simply until it is well secured. If you notice that it isn't completely secure, repeat the process.

- Remove the covered button from the holder piece and it's done!

- Cut off a piece of crochet thread about 4m | 157.5” long.

- Insert one of the ends of the crochet thread through the eye of the needle.

- Pull the thread until both ends meet (the needle must be in the middle of the thread length), as shown in the images.

- Knot the two ends of the thread together and repeat this process 2 more times to make sure it won't slip.

- Start forming the petals passing the needle through the top center of the pincushion to the bottom center taking into account the previously marks you made with the heat erasable pen.

- Then take the needle up around the pincushion to the top center again.

- Pull the thread firm enough to get a petal look, as shown in the images.

- Repeat the previous process until you have 8 equal segments (petals).

- Knot off the crochet thread and make sure it is well secured.

- Don't cut the remaining thread yet as you'll need it to sew the leaves to the pincushion and to attach the covered buttons.

- Cut off a piece of thread that folded will be long enough to attach the 6 leaves.

- Insert one of the ends of the thread through the eye of the needle.

- Pull the thread until both ends meet (the needle must be in the middle of the thread length), as shown in the images.

- Knot the two ends of the thread together and repeat this process 2 more times to make sure it won't slip.

- Fold the circle in half and then fold it in half again to get a quarter circle.

- Using a running stitch, sew along the curved edge of the quarter circle, making sure you are catching all the layers.

- Add the next leave (in chain) to the same piece of thread following the same steps as before. Repeat this process until you have added all the 6 leaves.

- Pull the thread firm enough to gather them together and to form the leaves shape.

- Knot off the thread at the end, as shown in the images, and make sure it is well secured.

- Stitch the opening at the center of the leaves chain as close together as you can so it won't show behind the covered buttons that you'll add next.

- Sew the leaves and the covered buttons to the pincushion.

- Place the leaves at the bottom center of your pincushion and pass the needle through the center of the leaves, as shown in the images.

- Then pass the needle again through the center of the leaves, catching some fabric to make it more secure, to the top center of the pincushion.

- Add one of the covered buttons, passing the needle through the wire eye back and again to the bottom center.

- Now attach the other covered button as you did for the first one.

- Repeat the previous process always pulling the thread firm enough until both covered buttons and the leaves are well secured.

- Finish knotting off the crochet thread, making sure it doesn't unravel, and trimming the excess thread.

Happy sewing! 🥰🪡