Skip to main content

How to Make a Pincushion Angel

Join Jen and Tammy in this delightful tutorial as they share their expert tips and techniques to guide you through creating the adorable Pincushion Angel! Designed by Joyce Minnis, this pattern combines charm and practicality, making it a must-have for any sewing enthusiast.

In this beginner-friendly quilting project, you'll discover the joy of crafting pincushions that will impress your friends and family. With its delicate design and fast stitching, you'll have a blast selecting the perfect fabrics to bring your angels to life.

Let the Pincushion Angel lift your heart and bring joy to your sewing routine! Share your beautiful creations with us and be sure to subscribe for more inspiring tutorials from Shabby Fabrics.

- The Pincushion Angels Pattern by Joyce Minnis

- Charm Packs

- Mini Charm Packs

- Ground Walnuts

FABRICS USED IN THIS VIDEO

- Heather Fabric & Precuts Collection

- Pansy’s Posies Collection

- Arctic Ice by Robert Kaufman

NOTIONS USED IN THIS VIDEO

- Creative Grids 2-1/2" Square Quilt Ruler - CGR2

- Creative Grids I Love My Quilting Friends Rulers

- Coats & Clark Dual Duty Plus Hand Quilting Thread - Natural

- AdTech 2-Temp Dual Temperature Hot Glue Gun

- Frixion Clicker Pen 2 Pack

- Olfa Rotary Cutters & Blades

- Olfa Spinning Rotary Mat 12" x 12"

- Oliso Smart Iron

- Clover Point 2 Point Turner

- Wool Pressing Mat

- Karen Kay Buckley Perfect Scissors - 6 Inch - Blue

- Clover Magnetic Pin Caddy

- Clover Seam Ripper

- Heat-Resistant Cool Pins - Bohemian Blue - 1-7/8" - 50ct by The Gypsy Quilter

- Clover Wonder Clips - Assorted Colors - 50ct

- We're sewing on a BERNINA 770 QE and we love it!


Video Transcript:

Jen and Tammy here with a really fun tutorial that is darling and practical so cute the pincushion Angels by Joyce minnis is beautiful pins lovely ribbons to hold the Wonder Clips so when you need just a clip and you don't want to find the box two or three or you don't open the box upside down like I do now I'm cleaning up they're all over the floor joist Menace you might have seen some of the other Angel patterns we've done yes she is just a desire that designs goodness uh Faith she designs faith into that and practicality everybody needs a pincushion I I might not even use mine it's more of decoration I think mine is just going to sit on my shelf yes I love these so our goal here today Tammy has made a couple of these this by the way is the one of the ones Joyce made she even signed this she did this is made with Heather which was a collection we did here with Maywood Studio this beautiful purple kind of posey look this pansies posies another one Joyce made and signs so you can see no matter what she made him with many charm packs yes we've got quite a few little mini charms here these work great these are you're not cutting fabric you're not cutting One mini charm with a little bit of lining Fabric and some other things makes two at least two at least with stuff left over yes yes with squares left over you could take a charm pack cut it half vertically and horizontally and get eight yes right absolutely yes you can see eight of them out of a charm pack or if you just got your stash and you're like I don't have many charms or charms you can just grab a two and a half inch of spinning mat scrap fabric cut around go you could use a jelly roll of course you could and then you could just subscribe yeah absolutely so however you want to get your fabric as you can see they look beautiful in a variety of fabrics there are some key things we want to keep in mind the lighter color for her head face whatever you're going for that's right that's going to be in a very strategic position so you've made this you're the expert on this one yeah I am watching process and help tell me how I can help okay take it away Tammy all right so we've made our nine patches okay so we're making a night patch for the front and for the back we pressed our seams open all right and we I have chosen this Peach for her face okay so we are going to Mark those because you don't accidentally want to cut her head off that's that's a very bad thing I definitely okay I never do that exactly because I know we end up trimming something somewhere we're going to trim next and I want to make sure I do not cut this poor Angel's little face off no so we're going to mark them with pins I love these pins these are cool pins okay by the Gypsy quilter and I'm just gonna Mark her face and this just tells me don't cut that okay right you're not gonna put a rotary cutter on there okay so the in the pattern Joyce gives you specific measurements on where to mark it and how to cut it I will cut it for them but I'm not going to give them the measurements yeah because it's super sad thank you Joyce for letting us do this she's so sweet I know you know we want to protect the energy and the effort of her intellectual property and copy right I think she's done so this is an overview exactly of the process so you can make your own and they're great for gift giving I love them I love that okay what's our next step so I need a ruler to cut okay um and I I brought these out you know I love my quilting friends I love them this is creative grit uh we said we would love to have them in a variety of colors to gift give um to friends like you what's your favorite color I'll pick teal I'll pick the teal one disagreed one okay yes and so you know if you're going to give an angel maybe give a rule or two oh but these are they're not just cute to put the purple one with this one yes oh I love that it's practical it's a two and a half by six and a half it's like it's something we would use maybe you're doing a braided border I use the shoulders all the time Jen and now you can have fun it says I love my food love it has hearts on it all right so we are going to cut and I have pre-marked this corner to corner here and we're just going to cut off the bottom this is where our uh the bottom of our pin cushion is now right that's right because we've marked this part correct base that's right that's her head okay all right so now what we're going to do is we're going to make her wings okay right look at this really cool fabric Jen this is this white it's Arctic Ice Robert by Robert Kaufman is on the website beautiful it's just like it and you know shimmers and it doesn't flake off no it's embedded it doesn't you can iron it do whatever you want to it it does not come off of there I love this fabric it's such a little Link in the video okay let's remember to deal with that so you can get that yes there's a thousand uses for a fabric that's beautiful definitely all right so what I'm going to do is we're going to lay it out so the heads are together okay okay like this and we would sew here and here and across okay yep all right then we're going to take a little bit of fusible interfacing I have a piece pre-cut here we're going to put this onto the front of our Angel so I'm going to say this is the front and I think we're doing this mostly because we're pinning through the front Okay so you're right back side you're just saying the front of the Angel front right you're on the back of the fabric obviously okay perfect I want to clarify it clarify this yeah okay correct all right so we're going to make sure that we put our fusible later facing on the front what you determined to be the front of your project okay yes okay all right and did you see I could iron that cool pen and it didn't melt I love that all right so once we get this all together we're going to layer it with another piece of your white sew all the way around it do we want to lay that on here so I can show them without oh heads in the center heads to the center there we go yes yes okay all the way around it right sides together you're going to turn it with your Clover Point towards okay yeah love that pokes out all my Corners let me show you what you have here we go there it is okay all right so I top Stitch this all the way around that closed my opening up I didn't do any fancy hand stitching or anything like that on there I just simply top stitched it closed okay all right now the trickiest part of the whole thing now we have to do her side seams I don't remember you talking about this and it could be done by hand you could do this by hand yes and we do have our codes and Clark hand quilting thread this stuff is so strong you can easily use this to do that I'm just going to set that out yeah okay so if you would struggle I sometimes go exactly I Surrender she ripped it too many times that's right I'm done I'm just I know so I have fussed with this several times and I have come up with a way of foldiness around okay so what we're talking about is we want to sew her side seams so this is the Angel's head will be here these are her side seams right here okay so I have pre-marked where I'm going to sew to um Okay so so if we have this here I'm going to turn this around see I'm just kind of turning it nice reading my points together I'm going to do this at the sewing machine and I'm just going to sew with a little zigzag Stitch here okay I want to line up my seams and then you just kind of fuss with it it's on your machine I leave my needle down so it holds to it right holds on to it then you can kind of pull on this a little bit without it moving and then you just sew on up to here and I'm going to back tack at the beginning at the end oh gosh yes then I'm going to turn it over and I'm going to do the other side but I love I love showing that capability I wanted I want them to see how I do this all right so I'll meet them at sewing machine perfect okay here we go so I have my points are together I'm going to use a little tiny zigzag Stitch we're gonna do a little bit of a backpack here because I don't want this coming apart see how I can just move these sides together like that oh that looks great and we can just sew it right up and backpack at the end and now we'll do the other side and Jen I think you need to come do this side I can't hear you [Laughter] okay all right so we're back we have our side seams are sewn just like that kind of clever that's cool pretty clever okay next thing we're going to insert the head okay let's give her a head all right so again I'm going to use a cool pin so I'm going to poke a pin straight down at this intersection okay all the way down now Jen if you can reach in there yeah and set your bead right on top of the PIN this I can do yeah I know you perfect maybe I love it we'll get there how many does it take to make an Angel sometimes two people that's right okay we're gonna hold her head it's going to kind of bust your body a little bit here and get her all straightened out this is the front and I know that because this is where we put our interfaces yes okay so we want to kind of pleat her head down like this and down like this and I'm just kind of spreading her wings out a little bit and I'm going to make sure I don't have any wrinkles right in front of her face yeah right even angels even angels either [Laughter] I wish we could smooth her wrinkles to see easily okay too now we have to do what Marcy calls torturing an angel oh no I know this poor little thing now we're gonna put a rubber band around her neck we need to hold her head and you're gonna need to do that like three times oh sorry Angel it'll only be for a little while how about that that's perfect yes that looks great okay okay there she is I love it hold on she has a wrinkle let's get that out of there right I don't like the wrinkle okay all right she's good okay how cute is this okay now I have marked ahead of time where we're gonna pleat our wings okay okay so to pleat the wings we want to take three or four pleats and I'm gonna match this Mark to this Mark so as I'm pleading I'm just folding this Fabric and I'm aiming for this as I'm going oh boy I see another rubber band moment coming there you go you knew it oh yeah just kind of where yeah that market is yep and I don't know at least three if not four I think these are just the rubber bands like the little girl like their hair yeah that they put in their hair and I think so fancy Dancy yeah Dollar Store stuff I like that yeah okay so now we're on the side again we're just gonna pleat her Wing like this and again I'm just aiming for this when I'm that's what I'm watching when I'm going for it okay okay I'm gonna get my hand out of there I don't want her to rubber band me to this I remember when hope was doing the dance and a ballet we had a lot of these in the house oh yeah okay I don't think mine are even though what did you do this one is further out should I scoot it in yep it looks like a little further up so maybe that's something to be even that's correct we do want them even that's why we mark it otherwise that looks much better yeah it might be flying sideways water going sideways or basic aerodynamics very important yes okay now we are going to tie some ribbon and I pre-cut ribbon for you Jen over there okay all right so we're going to fold her wings to her head like this yep and so we have done this ahead of time so Joyce gives you very good instructions on how long to cut your Ribbon okay how to do your bow how to and we chose to put a cross on her yes I love that Okay so yep you're gonna put on just like that and we're gonna go all the way around oh the man and tight tight yes tight tight yes please do I want to be above or below the rubber bands uh right on the rubber bands of spine that's perfect just like that put your finger there yep well this is like quilting with friends it is crafting with friends crafting with friends and then I think I want to leave the ribbons long so that we have this right you want to tie another bow here okay I'm just gonna tie just like retine a bow and see we still have long tails we still have tails on our ribbon back here okay and we're going to stick a pen there come here I'll borrow this one there you go it's a long one it's going to go all the way to her head I think yep okay all right we're gonna hold that there now we get to make the pincushion part you're right right that's yes and you know what I just realized what because I've never actually made one of these did you put the interfacing here to reinforce where the pins are going to be the pins yes nice yes okay that's why you're interfacing the front of her dress I see not the back yes because I that that light bulb moment only just now happened [Laughter] said that I thought I said that you might have so we're gonna set her aside for right now okay now we get to play with Walnut chills I love these yes I do too all right and so this is her body or the lining inside so Joyce gives you templates in here in your pattern to cut this all out and so I just cut two pieces I sewed them right sides together turn them press them I did not top Stitch it I didn't think I needed to top Stitch it okay okay so we have an opening here and we're going to put our funnel in here I'm going to let you pour the one I would love to one 11 ounce bag unscented or lavender scented makes both angels I think we'll see because I'd made one out of this and I tried to use half so we'll see how much we get it okay and these are the best these are the best quality and you know that is real lavender Buzz the oil comes from France it's the purest of the Walnut shells beautiful they're cosmetic grade so they're just wonderful and they hold their scent if you like the scented or if you don't want to sit here yeah but they're just wonderful so be sure and there's so many every pin cushion I I once filled a pin cushion with polyfill oh it had no weight so the moment I put a pin back in it it flew right off the table this is what gives this Angel a nice weight and she's her form she doesn't move we doing good yeah we're doing really good filling up our little body here I'm just trying to shake it around and get those shells in there I agree to take some more okay tell me when okay that's probably good okay let's see how we do because I still have to close the bag remember that that's true I have an opening here well I see it have a big gap over here okay so you can take a few more sure and always you always want to do this you notice how we're using this bowl that's probably good we're using a bowl you definitely need to use and make a mess underneath your Walnut shells if you pull this out or if you have a child helper right yeah I can just see doing this with my grandkids or with your kids see I actually pulled it out and look at that we're spilling yep there we go okay this is why we have a bowl so we have just a little bit left over perfect so even if you spill a touch you're gonna have plenty yeah okay yeah okay now we have options okay you ready yeah okay I can take this to the sewing machine that sewing machine that's the one I've got I don't think we should do that too because I think Walnut shells one little walnut shell could ruin your whole down in that Sawyer so what's your next best idea my next idea is hand sew it yes right definitely hand sew this together that's easy enough to do right we could even use a couple of our clips and clip it together sure right or we can hot glue it I like that one right now okay I knew it I know you had this over here for a reason I do I was waiting for when that moment happened okay yeah and I've got kind of a shorter okay you have a shirt card all right so we're just using a low temp hot glue here nothing crazy we're gonna put it together and pinch it and if you really want to you can now go hand sew that oh yeah I mean right to the top of it if you wanted to I honestly don't think these shells are going anywhere I'm not going to play football with my angel right she's just gonna sit on my shelf so I think that is plenty of Walnut chills look at that that okay perfect okay I'll take that you can hand that back all right here we go let's put her body in you know let's drag her wings back down you're right let's drag her wings down a little I think we can clip some of the rubber bands can't we cut them we can yes we can do that and I know they recommend a seam ripper I've got some scissors here do you want to try this you can just a little bit of surgery we'll do some surgery on her little rubber bands if you can cut that pink one right there yep perfect you know I'm always I'm not a huge rubber band fan if you've said that yeah my brother's tormented me oh unmercifully with rubber bands when I was gender and I just I've not been a fan of them ever since it seems every time you play with them they snap and they yeah right can you find it and there's the one on the head too I can grab that one I can leave that on she said okay I said we can leave the one on her head we don't okay okay all right so now let's get her wings down this is cool because I've been missing yep and we're going to tuck the tip in just like this how cute is that oh she's so cute Joyce always has cute designs but if you fluff them out like that a little bit let's give her some shoulders she says that they need shoulders yep we have to make sure she has her shoulders it's at the front that's the back this is the punch okay all right Joe I think we're ready to insert our body now okay okay good boy I know it's a little bit of a tight fit yeah we got it might be my hands are probably in your way nope oh good squish this down a little bit there we go now we have a base and if you notice Joyce has got it's a hard base right she uses cardboard yep yes and so she has a template for this in the pattern okay wonderful and I've transferred the markings from the template in the pattern onto our cardboard the reason I did that is because I think we got our back in there right trying to center it um you just have to fuss with it a little bit did you have to fuss with it a little bit there we go I want this in the center okay so we're going to bring our Angel together now at the bottom and again this is going to be it's a bit of a tight fit which is good you don't want her to be loose down here okay there we go nice I got it good work okay so now we're going to bring our side seams together and I'm watching my marks this is Center so we're going to keep this centered with this right okay this is Center so I want to bring the bottom over good work center that's pretty darn close just like that look at that yep perfect okay so now we have another option we can hot glue this or we can hand Stitch this this is entirely up to you okay I prefer hot glue because it's quick it's easy and I move on to the next part yeah let's do that okay I think I'll have to come I'll move Angel there we go let's move her to you that's easier I'll just do one set at a time yep please okay okay we're gonna pull this back over and again having that template there is very handy because I can make sure we're pulling this to the center yeah and I know I'm in your way right there here again how I came to shine you want to do more glue perfect okay all right do we have more glue in there I hope oh barely okay we're gonna need a little bit more okay all right so I'm putting the bottom together oh it's stuck before we were ready don't do that do that you see this glue it's just oh yeah it's very stringy right it's just stringy it's everywhere okay so now we have on the bottom we have like a point that we made and this point just needs to fold over like this okay so I just need a little tiny bit of hot glue right here good okay and we're just going to fold this over a little toasty a little hot yeah a little hot I can't but we'll just keep rolling that glue off of there okay like this perfect I'm just kind of making a straight yep hold it for a second until it sets now if you wanted to stitch these you could do that you could this one did not hold he came apart I did I don't I don't think I held him just a little bit I don't think I gave you the right amount of glue that might be I don't know it was you hold that one because yep there we go that my we got it now we got it teamwork right let's put her down squisher squisher squisher stand up straight this is her front yep and we just are gonna work her around yeah her wings her Wing came undone oh poor girl there we go let's get her wings back down they are so cute ribbon just wants to pop up I know it does well I need to retie it a little bit sure let me redo my bow there we go I'm just gonna redo my bow here and we have some more ribbon here and that's going to be her there that's better okay so if you can just tuck that ribbon underneath this one nope just one side of it oh there you go and then they just kind of loop down oh really yeah you kind of fish it through there yep yep can you get it yes perfect yep go about halfway and yep they just Trail down her back and the clips hold them down oh of course they just add weight let me still a clip off of our other one the clip adds weight and that's how they stay down right so you'd add your other clip for your other one and then her little wings and then we are going to hand Stitch her little wings together oh I remember that yes yes yes yes yes yes yes sorry dread is right there so we did that we just kind of pulled her Wing together at the bottom and we're just going to hand Stitch her Wing right here to the bottom of her dress yeah and I would hand Stitch this rather than using hot glue and I'll show them right that like oh there you go better so we can just show that so you can see how Joyce just brought a little bit of stitching from that Wing to the Dress just to hold them down so the wings aren't to it that's right the amount of Rise of a wing is called dihedral oh we do not want to have too much dihedral too much no just enough this is probably too much there's your aerodynamic lesson for the day pop a wing down a little okay thank you Miss Jack you're welcome and so that keeps her wings in position I love that yes keeps her rings where they're supposed to be how cute is that oh choice is just just make a dozen of them well that means you have all this stuff set up and all the stuff drug out you might as well just go especially with scraps we turn scraps into something very special so and you know I don't think I could I see them here on the Lila after my right I I would I could have these all around my soda house they're just they're just they're just so much more and if you want to use them as an actual pincushion oh yeah absolutely fantastic yeah absolutely oh fantastic Tammy thank you for showing us your steps along the way as you can see you don't need to be an accomplished quilter that step on the machine was next level that was your life it would struggle grab for your hand sewing thread but don't let that be the reason you don't make these darling easels exactly pattern anything else you mean don't forget your Walnut shells Walnut shells that's perfect cool pins your rulers pre-cuts if you want to use them if you want to use Precast and we will see you soon on another chef stop [Laughter] wow what did I have I don't know I turned on four it's like a little piece of fabric or something I'm cleaning up [Music] you see what I deal with when I miss someone I'm just trying to be efficient over here wow okay stop touching things