Guest Post: Felt Tree Stump Pincushion Tutorial

Kicking off my new series of weekly Guest Posts (so exciting!) is a felt pincushion tutorial from Manuela, who blogs at i ManuFatti.

To make a cute tree stump pincushion, you’ll need:

- Brown (russet) felt, approx. 25 x 15 cm
- Fawn felt, approx. 9 x 9 cm
- Red felt, approx. 8 x 5 cm
- Beige felt, approx. 8 x 9 cm
- White (ivory) felt, approx. 10 x 7 cm
- Moss green felt, approx. 6.5 x 5.5 cm
- Apple green felt, approx. 6 x 5 cm
- Matching sewing threads + black sewing thread (for the eyes and mouth)
- Light brown and brown embroidery thread (6 stranded)
- 2 x round black glass beads, 4 mm in diameter
- Stuffing
- Needle, pins and sharp embroidery scissors
- Hot glue gun (optional)
- Paper and printer to print the templates at the bottom of this post.

For this project I've used wool blend felt (40% wool) 1-1.5 mm thick.

1. Print and cut out the templates. Pin the tree stump paper pieces on felt and cut a brown (russet) rectangle (the ‘body’), a brown circle and a fawn circle. Separate three strands of the brown embroidery thread and backstitch a series of lines on the ‘body’ shape, at an approx. distance of 1cm from each other (don’t stitch them perfectly straight!).

 

2. Whipstitch the ends of the ‘body’ together, leaving a 1cm seam allowance on one end (see picture).

Sew the black beads (the eyes) with black sewing thread. Use the same black thread to backstitch a little smiling mouth. To make the cheeks, cut out from red felt a small circle (approx. 8mm) and use it as a template to cut out a second cheek. Whipstitch the cheeks below the eyes with matching thread.

 

 

3. Separate three strands of light brown embroidery thread and backstitch a series of rings on the fawn circle shape. Keep an approx. 1cm distance from each ring and start sewing the biggest ring first. Pin the fawn circle on the ‘body’ and sew it completely, with blanket stitch in brown thread.

 

4. Stuff about ¾ of the pincushion, pin the brown circle to the bottom of the ‘body’ and sew with blanket stitch in matching thread. Leave a 2cm opening to insert the rest of the stuffing, but be careful not to overstuff the pincushion or it will end looking more like a ball than a tree stump! Use a stuffing tool to gently push in the stuffing (I use the handle of a long paintbrush). Sew up the gap when finished.

 

5. Cut a moss green circle and trim the edge to make the grass. Repeat with apple green felt. Sew the grass shapes on the top of the tree stump, with a couple of stitches.

 

6. The toadstools are different in size, but they are both made the same way.

Cut out a beige stalk, a red circle and a white circle. Cut a tiny circle of white felt (approx. 6-7 mm) and use it as a template to cut out the other toadstool dots (I’ve used eight dots in total, for both toadstools). Whipstitch the dots on the red circle with matching thread.

Sew the red and white circles together with red thread, using blanket stitch. Leave a tiny 1cm opening to insert the stuffing and sew up the gap when finished.

 

7. Take the beige stalk and whipstitch the ends together, with matching thread.

 

Turn the stalk inside out and sew the bottom closed, as pictured.

 

Turn it right side out and stuff it. Pin the stalk to the cap and whipstitch along the edge, across the stalk and into the cap (see picture). Repeat steps 6. and 7. to make a second smaller toadstool.

 

8. Take the bigger and smaller grass paper pieces and cut out 2 moss green bigger grass shapes and 2 apple green smaller grass shapes. Pin the grass shapes to one side of the tree stump, apple green grass on moss green grass, and backstitch them together on the tree stump along the bottom edge, in matching green thread. Repeat to add more grass to both sides of the tree stump.

 

9. Attach the toadstools to the grass on the tree stump with a thin layer of hot glue. If you don’t have a hot glue gun, you can simply stitch the toadstools to the pincushion with a few hidden stitches. Be careful when using hot glue: add just a thin drop of glue to the stalk and hold the toadstool on the pincushion for at least 5 seconds until the glue cools down.

That’s it, your cute tree stump pincushion is now ready!

 

Click here to view the templates in another tab/window & print. 

 

Please, respect my work and my creativity: if you want to make an item from my tutorial or to blog about this project, remember to credit me and link back to this post. Do not reproduce my entire tutorial on your site. This tutorial is for non commercial use only. Thank you!

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Manuela is a cat lover, a chocolate addict and a felt-obsessed Italian girl who lives in a small city by the sea, in Slovenia. She runs a blog, www.imanufatti.blogspot.com, where she shares free tutorials for cute crafty projects. She collects teapots and has a thing for buttons.

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