Tuna Can Pincushion

Leftover strips of wool?

Use them to make a Tuna Can Pincushion.  I teach a class on making pincushions and my favorite stuffing is some form of wool (wool roving, shredded leftover wool batting, snipped wool yarn or strips of wool fabric).  Here’s how you can use leftover strips of wool:

You will need one tuna can for your pincushion.  Get the kind of can you have to open with a can opener…not the kind with a pop-off lid!  The pop-off lid will leave a narrow rim which will definitely cut you as you try to insert the stuffing.

Remove the label and wash the tuna can well.  Paint the tuna can and decorate the outside as you wish (Washi tape, ribbon braids work well, stickers, or in the case of the sample, print out a bunch of quilters sayings and attach).

Measure the height of the side of the can.  This is the width of wool strips you need.

Take your leftover wool fabric and cut into strips this width.  You can change color by abutting (not overlapping) the ends of two strips and zigzagging them together.  You will need to make a long length of wool strips.

Next take a toothpick and begin rolling the wool strip around the toothpick.  Wind tightly and carefully so your edges are aligned.  After you have a wheel about an inch thick wound around the toothpick you can slide the toothpick out and continue rolling until you have a wheel slightly larger than the can.

Squeeze the wheel slightly and slip it into the can.  Voila!  You have a tuna can pincushion.

Of course you don’t have to use a tuna can; you can use a chopped jalapenos can (taller and smaller) or an oval sardine can, whatever, as long as it isn’t too tall; I’d say 2″ or less. There’s an oval sardines can up in our cupboards that I have just been waiting for my husband to eat those sardines! Guess I’m going to have to go out and buy him some Ritz crackers….