Hi! I’m Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. One of my favorite things when I
go and teach a workshop is all the different pincushions. There are so many amazing and
fun ideas out there, and I love these chicken pincushions and so I have quite a few of them
and I, I just love to make them. They’re just fun. They all have their own little personality
and they’re super easy. So people ask me all the time how I do them. So I thought I’d
take a minute today and do a little chicken pincushion tutorial for you so you could see
how to make these yourself.
Now, believe it or not, these are based on two squares. So, this one, this one is made
with two squares of fabric that are the same. This one is made with two different squares
of fabric, and this one is made... and this one also with an orphan block. You know how
you’ll finish a quilt and you’ll have this one block left over? Well, these are
just made from leftover log cabin blocks. So the log cabin is a really easy and quick
block to make, and I happen to have a couple of extras right here. You can actually make
these any size you want. You just need two matching blocks.
Now, if you’re doing an orphan block, what you want to do is lay them on top of each
other and make sure that they’re the same size. Just square them up so that they’re
the same size and they just, you know, you just want them to go together perfectly, because
basically what we’re talking about here is two squares. So, you can use plain fabrics
or a block. I happen to have these two little log cabin blocks, so I thought I would show
you with these.
So what we’re going to do is, we’re going to decide what the top part of our block is,
and this chicken is going to need a beak and a headpiece. Now, these little beaks right
here, this is just a prairie point, which I’ll show you how to make, and this is just
some folded fabric. This one has felt on his little, his little red thing up here and he
has a little felt beak. And this guy even has two prairie points for his beaks and he
has yarn in his fluff up on top of his head. And so, you know, you can just use your imagination
and have a lot of fun with these chickens.
So, to make this chicken, what you’re going to need is two squares that are the same size,
and I have made little log cabin blocks, but they’re the same size, you’re going to
need a one and a half inch square for your beak, a two and a half inch square for your
tail, and then you’re just going to need a little piece of scrap to make your, your
little top fluff piece up here. I’m going to show you a whole new way how to do that.
And I’m actually going to do that right now. I’m going to cut a little one and a
half inch or one and a quarter inch strip and I’m just going to cut it, oh let’s
see, about maybe two and a half inches long. Hahaha, see? There’s so much here that’s
just fun and creative. And then I’m going to fold this in half right here. So I’ve
got it in half and I’ve ironed it. So, so that’s going to be my little fluffy part
on the top of the chicken head. And then I need a tail.
So to make a prairie point out of this tail, what you’re going to do is take your square
just like this. You’re going to fold it in half like this diagonally and then you’re
going to fold that over again, one more time. So you have this triangle, but all the parts
on the outside are now folded seams and this little seam, the only open seam, is going
to go inside. So, he’s not going to show. Then you need to do the same thing with his
beak.
So, I have a one and a quarter inch piece here and I am going to, wait a minute, let
me measure that, ooh it’s one and a half inch, so we’re going to have a one and a
half inch square for our beak. You just need a little square and it really can be any size.
So, again, I’m going to make this into a prairie point, which means I’m going to
fold it diagonally this way and I’m going to iron that. And then I, once I have it folded
in half like that, I’m going to fold it in half again this way so that all of my open
edges are right on the...
So since my little squares are only four and a half, you’re going to need a littler beak
and so that’s why I’m using a one and a half inch square and we’re folding it
both sides. Because you want, you want a little tiny beak like this, you don’t want a great
big beak, but I guess you could if you wanted to. It’s, so much of it is left up to personal
preference.
Now what I’m going to do when I put this on, is I’m going to put it about a quarter
of an inch from the top and lay it so it points inward to the block, just like this, and I’m
going to put a little pin in here to hold it. Then, I’m going to put my top, this
is my top over here and, actually, it looks a little long compared to this block. You
want to keep things in perspective for the size of your block. If I was doing a bigger
block, then I would want to put this, make this bigger. But this is a pretty small, little
chicken block.
So then I’m going to lay it on the other side so the raw ends go in. My fold is at
the edge. On this little beak the raw edges go out. So, then, I’m going to put my two
blocks right sides together like this and I’m going to go ahead and pin those right
through so they’re holding each other down ‘cause I don’t want them to shift when
I sew. So, there’s one side and I’m going to take my pin out of this beak and put it
on the outside. So, again, the beak goes down about a quarter of an inch and the, the little
top piece also goes in about a quarter of an inch. Lay your squares right sides together
and we’re going to sew down this side and then down this side.
So, let’s go to the sewing machine and do that. Make sure my stitch is in the middle.
Going to be really careful not to sew over my pin. Make sure that my corners stay lined up.
I’m going to pivot, and I’m going to sew down this other side.
Do a back stitch on a little bit on this corner. Alright, so we have these two blocks right
here and what we want to do is, we want to open them and look and make sure that all
of our beaks and our top piece are going the right direction.
So, there’s our little beak right there and our top piece and to finish off this top
piece, I’m actually going to take it and just clip it a whole bunch of times, like this. Here we go.
And this you can do after you’re done or before and I’m just going
to kind of ruffle it up so it gets like a little curly top. That’s different from
my other tops. It’s just a whole different way of doing it.
So here’s our little guy, and we realize that this part right here, we need to sew
down too. So we’re going to flip him back in and then this seam right here, what we’re
going to do is, we’re going to sew about an inch and a half, leave about an inch and
a half opening, and then sew this closed right there. Alright, so let’s go do that.
So, I’m going to start and sew about an inch and a
half. I’m going to backstitch that because I don’t want it to come apart.
Then, I’m going to take this right here and about an inch and a half from the end, sew it down.
So, we have this one piece down here like this now. This is the, this is the other side
that we didn’t sew. Here’s our opening, but we’re going to leave that alone for
now. And so this tail piece right here, we’re going to pull so that the seams meet, just
like that. And then we’re going to slide our tail in here, with the point going in,
and we’re matching it up on that middle seam. And we’re going to line that up along
that edge, make sure it’s centered. I’m going to put a little pin in there.
I know, I don’t usually use pins, but I, I want to make sure this stays in there really good.
And then we’re just going to sew straight across this one, right here, quarter of an inch.
So, here we go.
Pull out my pin.
So now what we get to do is, now we get to turn our chicken right side out. So this will,
this will let us know if we did it all right. So, basically, just to recap before I turn
him: you’re going to lay your beak in and your top piece in and you’re going to sew
on this side and this side. You’re going to come down on the bottom and you’re going
to sew a little seam about an inch and a half, leave an opening, and sew the other inch and
a half closed. You’re then going to take the back part and pull it aside, like this.
So that... and then slide your tail ends and sew all the way across there and then we’re
going to turn this from here.
Now I’m going to go ahead and clip these corners a little bit, ‘cause I want a little
less bulk in there. But not too much, ‘cause you don’t want them to come undone.
Alright, let’s see if we got him right. I sure hope so. There’s the beak.
Ha alright hang on, we’re coming, wait for it. Alright, there we go. Going to take my scissor point,
push out his little points, little corners. Huh, look, there’s his little beak and his
little top. Here’s his little tail. Oh, we got him.
And then we need to talk about stuffing a little bit. So, I just want to talk. I just
want to tell you what, what’s in these guys. So this guy has soybeans in him. I have a
guy over here with rice. I have this one that has like, I think this has those lizard litter,
it’s like crushed walnuts shells only they’re finer. This one has lizard litter inside with
fluff on the outside. Really, you can put anything you want inside these. The, the crushed
wal-, the crushed walnut shells are supposed to be really good for keeping your needles
sharp. Soybeans are what I had when I made this guy, haha. So we just, whatever you want
to put in there. You can also put some fluff in there. But they make darling little chickens,
don’t you think? And then if you want to put eyes in him, I just used my pins and put
a, put a black pin in there for his eye, and it just works perfect and he has sight.
So, I hope you we’re able to do this and have some fun and use your imagination, use
up some of those orphan blocks. But, remember, it only takes two squares that are the same
size. We hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the “Chicken Pincushion” from the Missouri
Star Quilt Company