Here’s a fun little pin cushion I designed for the June 2009 issue of Cotton Spice magazine. You can make it with a bottle cap and scraps of batting and fabric.

You will need:
1 twist off bottle cap
3 ½” square of fabric
Bottle Cap Mini Pin Cushion template
Piece of cardstock
Pencil
Scissors for paper and fabric
Needle
Strong thread, any color
Handful of batting scraps (wool is great for this project!)
All-purpose adhesive or glue gun and hot glue sticks

1. Enjoy an icy cold drink in a bottle with a twist off cap. Wash and save the cap.
2. Cut out a 3″ circle from the cardstock to make a template. Trace around the template onto the fabric and cut out on the line.
3. Make a running stitch around the fabric circle, approximately 1/8” inside the cut line. The thread must be strong to hold up to firm stuffing. Use doubled thread if you are unsure of your thread’s strength.
4. Gather the thread so the fabric circle draws up into a cup shape with the right side of the fabric out. Tighten it until the opening is about the size of your finger. Firmly knot the thread and cut the excess thread tails short.
5. Use the eraser side of your pencil to gently push the batting scraps into the fabric cup. Push the batting to the sides of the fabric cup to make room in the middle of the cup for more batting. Keep pushing batting into the cup until it is firmly stuffed and bulges slightly out of the opening.
6. You can shape the stuffed fabric cup like a piece of dough to smooth it out and make it round. If the batting bulges out too much when you shape it, either push it back in or remove a little bit.
7. Apply a generous layer of glue all over the flat bottom of the inside of the bottle cap. You don’t need to put glue on the sides of the bottle cap as long as the bottom is completely covered.
8. Press the bottle cap with glue down onto the open side of the stuffed fabric cup, making sure the gathering stitches and cut edges of the fabric are pressed inside the bottle cap and stuck to the glue. Hold the stuffed fabric cup and bottle cap together and gently shape the stuffed fabric cup.
9. When the glue is dry your bottle cap mini pin cushion is ready to use! Try gluing a button magnet to the outside of the bottle cap for a handy variation.