In my ongoing quest to cute-up the dull, it's time to attack the wrist pincushion. Who wrote the law that wrist pincushions must be ugly and uncomfortable? Did it begin with the red-plastic snap-on variety of my mother's generation; in our excitement for the advent of plastic, did we take things too far?** Or were we torturing ourselves long before then?
True, there have been some commercial attempts to add personality to the plain old pincushions of the past: gingham hearts, lavendar daisies and so forth. With a lack of alternatives, I might prefer painful-to-wear over painful-to-look-at.
Bring on the bloggers. I'm not the first to offer a solution. Megan of Crafty Intentions whipped up an octopus from Futuregirl's pattern -- a wristopus? Super cool. Lori La Tortuga made a fun little owl once upon a time. Super cute. And Planet June has a great tutorial for a simple, but stylish Offset Square Wrist Pincushion. Super chic.
I'll take a stab at pretty.
Here, I've taken my new free pattern, Spring Violets (announced in our May newsletter) and adapted it to the cause. For the wrist band, I cut two rectangles of felt, 1.5" x 7.25" and 2" x 7.25". (Measure your wrist to make sure this works for you -- allow overlap for a velcro closure.)
With hot glue, I attached a thin circle of wood at the center of the wider felt band and pinked the edges of the felt. I then layered the smaller felt band on top, enclosing the wooden disc. I edge-stitched the bands together around the perimeter, then attached velcro at each end as a closure. Lastly, I whip-stitched the Spring Violets in place above the wooden disc. The flowers are attached to a small, stuffed tuffet (see pattern) which is perfect for pins. The wooden disc keeps your wrist whole-not-holey. (Check the woodcraft section of your local craft store.)
That's it. Pretty simple.
Click here to download the flower instructions. Let me know if you have any questions. Looking for felt? We've got plenty of that.
** However uncomfortable, I am totally nostalgic for those clamp-on red pincushions. Even though my mom usually kept pins between her teeth, she always wore a ratty red wrist-cushion covered with a rainbow of threaded needles.
