Camper Pincushion (In-the-Hoop)

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Celebrate your home away from home with a sweet camper pincushion, perfect for any craft room (or camper decor)! Embroidered details showcase a window, door, and more.

Supplies

1/4 yard quilter's cotton for main fabric
1/4 yard quilter's cotton for side panels
Tear-away stabilizer
Temporary spray adhesive (such as Gunold's KK100)
Polyester fiberfill
Needle and thread for hand sewing or fabric glue
Black buttons (optional; large: 5/8", medium: 3/8", small 1/4")

Designs Used

Finished Sizes: Large: 3 3/8" wide x 2 1/2" tall x 2 5/8" deep Medium: 2 1/2" wide x 1 7/8" tall x 2" deep Small: 2" wide x 1 3/8" tall x 1 1/2" deep

Each pincushion design has eight files. Four are the embroidery files and the other four are dieline files. The dieline files are marked with the letters DL. Dielines are used to cut the fabric to the right shape and size. Open and print each dieline file using an embroidery software. If you do not have an embroidery software, take a look at our helpful video on using dielines.

First prepare the fabric pieces for the front and back of the camper. Take the dieline files (labeled with "a" and "b"), and note that there are two dieline shapes in each file. The top one will be out of the main fabric of the camper, and the bottom will be out of the accent fabric. To keep the pieces in order, label them with "Top A", "Bottom A", "Top B", and "Bottom B".

Cut around the paper dielines, and spray the back of them. Then smooth them onto the appropriate quilter's cotton.

Cut out the shapes. Then repeat to prepare the last two dielines for pieces "c" and "d", and cut them out of the main fabric.

Hoop a piece of tear-away stabilizer. Madeira E-Zee Tear 1.5 oz. or Floriani Tearaway Medium are good choices. Those brands are more fibrous, less paper-like, and will tear more cleanly.

Attach the hoop to the machine and load the full embroidery file "a" (not the dieline files). Use a size 11 or 75/11 sharp sewing needle, rather than an embroidery needle. A sharp sewing needle has a smaller, finer point than an embroidery needle, so that will make smaller perforations in the stabilizer. Embroider the design. The first thing to embroider will be a dieline, or outline stitch. This marks the area on the stabilizer where we'll place the fabric piece.

Remove the hoop from the machine, but do not unhoop the stabilizer. Spray the back of the top fabric piece with a temporary adhesive, and place it right inside the sewn dieline.

Attach the hoop back onto the machine and continue embroidering the design. A tack down stitch will sew next. This binds the fabric in place for the remainder of the design.

Next the bottom fabric piece dieline will sew. Repeat the previous steps to add a second piece onto the hoop so that it slightly overlaps the first. Continue embroidering the design. A decorative stitch border will tack down the top edge of the second piece, and a normal tack down will stitch around the rest of the piece.

Once both fabric pieces are stitched in place, all of the inner elements will sew.

Once the embroidery is finished, unhoop the stabilizer and gently tear it away from the edges. Make sure to leave the tear-away stabilizer on the back of the fabric piece as this will add structure to the camper pincushion.

Repeat the previous steps to embroider the other three pieces of the camper (b, c, & d). Once they are finished being embroidered, tear away the excess stabilizer.

Now it is time to assemble the camper. Match up one short end of the two rectangular pieces, and hand sew them together using the same thread used to embroider the border.

Then match up the opposite ends of the two rectangular pieces, and hand sew those together as well, making a loop out of the two pieces.

Hand sew on the front side of the camper, making sure to match up a corner of the pieces first. Start hand stitching at the corner, and make sure to sew the straight side before sewing around the curve. This will make it easier to sew and line up.