Scrap-Worthy Mini Pinnies

As we all know, sewing creates a lot of scraps, some big and some small. I’ve always been one to hold on to almost every scrap I make, but of course, more often than not, they just wind up in a scrap basket and are never touched or seen from again. When I was working on the quilts for my Heart of Hearts pattern, I noticed the cutest little pile of color scraps accumulating on the corner of my cutting mat, and this time, I was determined to use them right away. They were too sweet not to!

Using my Little Town Mini Pinnies tutorial, I put together four mini pinnies using scraps from the First Light collection I used for the cover quilt, and some monochromatic prints (mostly Carolyn Friedlander) I used in a second test quilt. I’m also doing my best to minimize the waste I create through my sewing, so these little guys are the perfect opportunity to use up scraps on the outside, as well as tiny fabric cuttings and batting pieces on the inside.

But of course I couldn’t stop there. I went even smaller, making some tiny half-square triangles out of the littlest scraps and then assembling them into another unique pincushion. This one measures 2" x 3" (compared with the 2.5" x 4.5" of the tutorial mini pinnies).

But wait, there’s more! In something of a challenge to myself to see just how small I could go, I took a few more elongated HST scraps that included some of those fun Ruby Star Society selvages and made them into tiny individual pincushions that measure just 1.5" x 2.25". Aren’t they precious? They are ideal for travel sewing kits.

Each pincushion is backed with Essex yarn-dyed linen (more scraps!) and filled with a mix of crushed walnut shells and tiny batting and fabric scraps. They are sewn closed by hand for an invisible closure. If you want to add one to your hand-sewing kit, you can find the larger mini pinnies in my shop here and the tiny ones here.