Pin Cushion – A Piece of Cake

Sew a pin cushion that looks like a cake slice.

When I teach young people to sew, I like to give them the project of making their own pincushion. Usually, they will sew them out of felt by hand and discover the joy of creating 3D objects out of fabric. One of their options is to make the cake slice.

Those students experienced with sewing machines, would make this project – the piece of cake (two or three tiered). If the pincushion is made entirely of felt, I recommend trying to hand sew it together. When using the machine, I recommend using all cotton fabric – for this project, I used a scrap fabric that I had on hand. Get the FREE pattern here.

Once the pattern has been printed, the paper pieces can be pinned to the fabric, but I prefer tracing the pieces onto freezer paper. If the freezer paper is ironed to the fabric with the shiny side down, it will temporarily adhere, and can be peeled off and reused.

Begin by assembling the cake layer panels. Sew a cake layer to a frosting layer. Work on two panels at a time. When the pieces have been sewn, press them well with an iron and steam.

Pin and sew a cake layer to the frosting layer. Press well.

Pin and sew another frosting layer to the cake layer. Press.

Wait for it… pin and sew another layer of cake to the frosting layer. Press.

Pin the pieces together, matching the frosting seams as best as possible, and trim around the edges of the layer cake panel. This will ensure the rest of the pieces are attached evenly.

Sew on the edging with the notches facing toward the top of the cake. The notches will help position the top of the cake to the layer panel.

Sew the top of the cake slice to the end piece, matching the notch. Open the seam and press.

Sew one edge of the side piece to one edge of the layer panel. Open the seam and press.

Sew the opposite side.

Fold over the layer panels and pin the edge that is even with the point of the cake slice. This will be the front. Sew.

Sew the bottom of the cake slice to the bottom of the end piece, matching notches. Open seam and press.

Sew the sides of the layer panels to the sides of the end piece.

Fold over the bottom piece and pin to the bottom of the layer panels. Sew the sides of the bottom, leaving a small space open – to turn the cake slice right side out.

Turn the cake slice right side out.

Stuff the cake slice with whatever is on hand. Polyfil is the stuffing of choice, as the needles slide in and out easily. I keep a bucket in my sewing room for un-sewable scraps, and I use them for stuffing. This stuffing make a heavier pin cushion. It would be acceptable to layer some polyfil and top it with fabric scraps. Whatever is used to stuff the cake slice, only stuff about 90%.

The remaining 10% should be a handful, or more, of glass weights (I found these at the Dollar Tree). This will give the pincushion stability as it serves as your sewing companion.

Use a needle and thread to hand sew the opening of the cake slice.

This is a great project for new sewists, and practices skills like sewing in a straight line and the effects when stitches are not in a straight line. Give it a try.