I wanted/needed a pincushion. I found inspiration from an Art Nouveau Poster by Ludwig Hohlwein from 1910 that I have on a postcard. I recreated the large rose at the child's feet.

The pincushion is 2.5 inches square and half as thick. To get the pieces, I scanned in the postcard, enlarged the rose to the right size, and printed it out. I cut around the outside of the rose shape on the paper and used that as a pattern to cut out a piece of felt. Next, from the paper, I cut away the shape of one of the rose petals. Then I placed the paper back over the felt piece and traced the edge of the cut. Then I cut out just that petal from the felt piece. I repeated that for each of the petals and then the middle. This might be a good thing to do as a tutorial - cutting pieces of a design out of felt.

I decided to sew the pieces on with black floss, instead of floss the color of the felt, to give the design a wood-cut look. When I was done, the rose wasn't centered. I put the middle piece in the center not realizing the petals aren't all even. Husband-with-good-ideas to the rescue, "Why don't you just add some leaves?" Why not, indeed. They complete the design nicely. I don't think it would have looked half as good without them.

Speaking of how good it looks, sweet husband Andrew took this photo and the excellent close up of the turtle. Aren't they great?! His photography is on display at bluepanic.com. Interested in what I look like?

Oh, yes, I was talking about the pincushion :) ... I was worried about the white stuffing showing through the sewing holes in the design, so I put another layer of black felt under the top. I also doubled the pink felt on the bottom. The image shows the bottom stitching. I should have doubled the felt on the sides as well. They would have bulged less and I could have stuffed the pincushion more firmly - which is key, as I learned with my prototype.

For the prototype, I used one of the graphic roses in the lower right hand corner of the poster. I was thinking I would make it look like a petit four, hence the stitching around the edges. It was about 1.5 inches square and half as thick.

The prototype was doomed in many ways. (1) I did not have my fancy system for cutting out the rose pieces yet, so I cut each one out separately. They just don't look right together. (2) I cut out a top and bottom square and one long strip for the sides. I sewed the strip to the top square, then I sewed the strip to the bottom square. None of the corners matched up and it's completely askew. I need to use separate pieces for each side for shapes like this. (3) I put a modest amount of stuffing in the pincushion. I didn't realize that you need to stuff it way-tight so the pins don't just sink in all the way. For the week or so that I used this little cushion all my needles were fully embedded and sticking out the bottom.

It was not all-bad, though. I really like the white blanket stitching around the edges of the white rose pieces. That came out looking lacy and gave each piece a solid white outline - exactly what I was going for.