I should probably state first of all that I copied this idea shamelessly from Mister Finch, who shared his gorgeous pincushions (in vintage silver trays) on Facebook. I was so smitten that I made my own.
It was incredibly easy to do, and there’s a tutorial for you here.
I bought the steel wool in Wilkinson‘s, and I was very tempted to buy a cheap heart-shaped dish that I’d spotted just down the aisle. Then I remembered that I already had these two heart shaped tins sitting empty at home. They’re a souvenir from the days when Paul worked for a company that had an office very close to a chocolate factory in Belgium. The bigger tin contained praline hearts, and the little one had dark chocolate with marzipan. My favourite!
The lovely flower-head pins in the little heart were a Christmas gift from my friend Chris, who makes amazing quilts. I might have to invest in some more of these – they’re much longer than ordinary dressmaking pins, and so pretty!
At the moment I’m finding that my work time is eating increasingly into my non-work time, with lots of meetings and planning and stress. I find that quick and easy projects like this will cheer me up immediately when I can at least end the day having made something both beautiful and useful.
(Also, I very much enjoyed the part where I got to stab all of those pins into the steel wool. Extremely therapeutic!)
Fab, although I hate the feel of steel wool. Maybe I could make one with a fabric cover!
That’s a great idea! I might go back and add a fabric cover to mine… if I can be bothered to take all the pins out again! 😉