quick and easy spun cotton strawberry sewing pins
These sweet little strawberry pins are definitely the easiest and fastest spun cotton make I’ve shared so far - and because of those things, and because they’re so cute and practical - I also think they’re the most gift-able spun cotton project I’ve yet made.
Spun cotton strawberries have been done and done again and I’d guess they’re probably as old as the craft itself - so maybe it seems silly for me to share this third tutorial about spun cotton strawberries (strawberry ornaments were actually the first spun cotton project I shared on YouTube as a make-along several years ago) —- but strawberries never go out of style, right? They seem to have timeless appeal.
Today I’m putting a little twist on a classic.
I’m really excited about this idea - strawberry sewing pins are the perfect project for beginning with spun cotton - you can have a whole batch of pins in an hour or two, and because you don’t have a ton of time invested, and because they’re so simple to make, they’ll turn out cute no matter what - I’m almost certain you’ll want to share some of your crop of cotton berries with your favorite people…
This is also a great project for older kids who are able to be careful with the pins - my nine-year-old daughter Nettie joined me in making them in the YouTube make-along and hers turned out great!
They look so sweet nestled in a pin cushion. And I think they’ll make wonderful gifts for almost anyone who sews or crafts - I’m hoping to sew some strawberry pin cushions and needle minders to go with them as gifts - or you could give a little cluster of them in a vintage pin cushion you find at a thrift store - or just tuck several into a pretty scrap of old fabric and tie it up with lace. I honestly can’t think of many people who wouldn’t enjoy some tiny strawberry pins :) and the fact that they’ll be homemade makes them extra special.
To make these strawberry sewing pins, you’ll need:
cotton balls or other cotton fiber
straight pins - the longer the better but preferably 1.5” or longer
school glue like Elmer’s and water (mix your glue and water at 1 part to 3 or 4 parts ratio, so one tablespoon of glue would be mixed with 3 to 4 tablespoons of water)
paint and paintbrushes (I’m using acrylic craft paints today but you can also use watercolor or gouache or a combination of them)
aluminum foil (a good opportunity to recycle clean foil if you save it - i have boxes of chocolate wrappers I keep)
fabric or paper for the tops
wire (for stems, optional)
darning needle (for making a hole for the wire stems)
hot glue or craft glue (optional, not strictly necessary)
scissors
sealant like Aleene’s or Mod Podge (optional)
One thing I learned as I was making these is that there are multiple lengths of sewing pins out there - it seems like the most common sizes are 1.5 and 1.75 inches - use whatever you have that’s the longest!
begin by using a little hot glue to secure the pin head to the foil
Take your straight pin and a very small piece of foil (I always use the foil wrappers from the dark chocolate I eat but you can use any clean (as in nothing that would spoil), dry aluminum foil - place a small amount of hot glue on the edge of the foil and then lay the pin head into the hot glue and close the foil around the pin head, forming it into the shape of a small strawberry. Mine are quite small - they will grow when you add cotton so keep that in mind.
NOTE: Keep the foil shape as near the top of the pin as you can, to preserve as much of the pin length as possible. If you build your strawberry shape down around the pin length, you’ll be left with a very short, stubby pin that can be displayed in a pin cushion, but might not be long enough to use in fabric or pin into a needle book.
brush a little of the glue mix onto the foil shape
Now it’s time to add the cotton fiber - you can use cotton balls like you buy at the drug store, which is what I’ve used today - or you can use cotton quilt batting or the nicer spinning fibers if you have them, like cotton punis or sliver which you can find at The Woolery or Cotton Clouds or you can find those fibers in a starter kit in my shop.
Brush some of your glue mixture onto the foil shape and then take a small amount of your cotton fiber and wrap it tightly around the foil, using your brush to push the fibers down into shape. You only need as much cotton as it takes to cover the foil and achieve the shape you like - probably just a pinch or two from a cotton ball.
This is the size my berries end up - a little less than half an inch across.
Now you’ll probably want to make at least a few more while you’re at it so you can do all the painting and details in one go.
Once you have a handful or a saucer-full of strawberries it’s time to start painting - I think it’s easiest to paint them while the cotton is still wet or damp - the cotton absorbs the paint better this way. But you can try it both ways and see how you prefer it.
I’m using acrylic craft paint today, Folkart and Decoart Americana brands and I have a primary red and lipstick red color. The white is folk art “parchment” and the green I chose is “light avocado” by Americana.
I like to paint while the cotton fibers are wet but experiment and see what you like :)
Paint how you like - you can add white to the top or tip, or splotches of yellow or darker red, or if you want a primitive look you can age with some tea or coffee. You could do some green strawberries if you like that idea! (I wish I had thought of that before this moment haha)
I dry the berries before I paint on the white seeds so they don’t bleed. You can air dry for several hours or overnight or dry in your oven or toaster oven. I set the toaster oven on 250 for 5 or ten minutes for something this small. Or you can heat the oven up to 300 and turn it off and set the berries in for 30 minutes or so. Setting things over a heating vent or radiator speeds things up too.
NOTE: If you have trouble with spun cotton pieces sticking to the plate as you dry in the oven, a very good suggestion from a follower was to cut a raw potato in half and place the cut side down on your plate, then with these strawberry pins, stick the pin into the potato to dry in the oven. You can use that technique for other spun cotton pieces if you think of it beforehand and build your piece around a dowel or toothpick.. I also find that if your piece is dead-wet, that’s when the worst sticking happens. So try not to use more glue and water mix than is necessary and if your piece is so wet that you can squeeze water out of it if you pinch, you might let it air dry for a bit before using heat. Or add a bit more cotton on top to sop up some of that extra moisture.
While the berries are drying, prepare your tops (if you’re painting fabric or paper). I painted my fabric pieces with the green acrylic paint and then added a dab of coffee and a bit of yellow ochre watercolor.
If you’re using a printed fabric or paper that doesn’t need painted, you can make the tops any time.
I like to cut out the shapes I want, paint, and then dry with the berries. The fabric dries very quickly. You can use pinking shears and cut out a small circle or you can cut the sawtooth pattern yourself in an oval or circle.. or you can cut out strips of sawtooth leaves to wrap around the stem. I cut out individual leaves too. They all looked fine to me and I don’t recommend one over another.
the fabric leaf tops can be painted and then dried with the berries
The seeds can be made lots of ways - you can use a fine brush for tiny seeds or a larger one for larger 'dots’ - a toothpick might also work in a pinch. Or I think white gel pens would work or white sharpies. You can make your seeds other colors besides white too - some people used black pens or sharpies several years ago when we were making strawberry ornaments and they looked great! So feel free to use what you have and experiment.
The seeds are usually dry enough to handle after a few minutes so if you’re adding wire stems to your berries, use a darning needle to punch a hole in the top.
Then insert a small length of wire with hot glue, super glue, or craft or school glue. Add a bit more glue around the wire to attach your fabric or paper leaves. I like to make my tops a bit large or long so that I can “scrunch” the fabric around the stem but you might like the look of a flat top or one that is glued down smoothly.
At this point you can decide if you want to use a sealant - I demonstrated using a matte finish Mod Podge in the YouTube make-along and that seems to work fine. I also use an Aleene’s matte finish spray sealant for other projects and have good results with that. Sealant is not necessary if you don’t have it but for these, since I thought they might get more handling and “use” than some other things I make, I thought it was a nice precaution to preserve the paint or potentially the fabric they are used on.
And that’s all there is to it! Now you’ll want to make a few dozen more for all your favorite creative friends :)
Thanks so much for reading this and for your support and I wish you happy making!
