This pincushion is a tiny folk-art house you build in wool and then plant with flowers. A yellow cottage with a blue roof and two little chimneys stands about 5-1/2 inches tall, its sage front dressed with appliquéd windows and a red door. The real fun is in the window boxes: each one overflows with embroidered blooms, buds, and trailing greenery worked in textural stitches, with a few seed beads tucked in for sparkle. The result is dimensional, charming, and just as happy holding pins as sitting out on a shelf.

What the Pattern Includes

This listing is for the printed paper pattern only. Wool, thread, filling, and notions are not included.

The pattern provides the full-size appliqué shapes for the house and its details, a stitch placement diagram for the flowers, and complete instructions for constructing and stuffing the three-dimensional pincushion. It does not include the embroidery stitch instructions themselves: Sue's Creative Stitching Second Edition (sold separately) teaches those stitches and is needed for the blooms.

What You'll Need

This is a small project that uses scraps of several wool colors. The supply list calls for hand-dyed wool for the walls, roof, windows, and door, cotton filling to stuff it, a couple of small buttons and two roving balls for the chimneys, and a few green seed beads. The stitching uses Ellana wool thread for the appliqué and a range of #8 and #5 Eleganza Perle cotton for the embroidered flowers and embellishment. The complete list with exact sizes and thread colors is printed on the pattern, and Creative Stitching (sold separately) supplies the stitch how-to.

Perfect For

• Wool-appliqué and embroidery fans who want a dimensional, display-worthy make
• Stitchers who want to practice textural flower stitches on a small canvas
• Anyone who loves a folk-art house and a pincushion that earns a spot on the shelf
• Owners of Creative Stitching looking for a fun way to use a range of stitches
• A handmade gift for a sewing or gardening friend

Why You'll Love This Pattern

Most pincushions are flat. This one is a little building, and that is the whole appeal. The wool walls and roof give it structure, the appliquéd windows and door make it read as a cottage, and then the window boxes turn it into a garden in miniature. Watching the plain house fill up with stitched flowers is the satisfying part.

It is also a low-stakes place to play with texture. The blooms are built from knotted, cast-on, bullion, and woven stitches, so the same handful of techniques can look completely different depending on color and density. Because it is folk art, there is no single correct way to fill a window box, which keeps it relaxing rather than exacting, and it uses up the prettiest wool scraps in the basket.

Once it is stuffed and standing, it does double duty: a sturdy pincushion that actually holds pins and needles, and a small piece of decor that looks like a lot more work than it was. It is the kind of make that gets picked up and admired every time it is spotted on a sewing table.

Product Details

• Brand: Sue Spargo Folk Art Quilts
• Item #: SS930
• Designer: Sue Spargo
• Category: Sewing Pattern
• Skill Level: Advanced beginner and up (comfortable with hand appliqué and a range of embroidery stitches; simple 3-D construction)
• Technique: Wool Appliqué, Layered Appliqué, Hand Embroidery, Sewing
• Finished Size: 3-1/2in x 3-1/2in x 5-1/2in
• Requires: Creative Stitching Second Edition for the embroidery stitch instructions (sold separately)
• Format: Printed Paper Pattern
• Made in the United States