Felicity’s Friendship Pincushion
Thank you for joining us for our program today. We are so happy that you are here!
For today’s program, we will be making a Friendship Pincushion, a craft brought to us by one of American Girl’s spunky and loyal characters, Felicity. Felicity’s story takes place in 1774 in Colonial Williamsburg.
Today’s craft can be found in Felicity’s Craft Book: A Look at Crafts from the Past with Projects You Can Make Today. The following directions make one pincushion. We hope you enjoy Felicity’s Friendship Pincushion.
Materials
2 pieces of solid-colored fabric, each 4 by 6 inches
Ruler
Fabric pen with disappearing ink
Embroidery hoop, 4 inches wide
Scissors
Embroidery floss, any color
Embroidery needle
Straight pins
Sewing needle
Thread
Cotton balls
4 tassels (optional)
Directions
Lay both pieces of fabric on a table, with the rights sides, or front sides, facing up.
Use the ruler and fabric pen to draw a line 1/2 inch from each edge of both pieces of fabric. Write your name and year (or your favorite historical character’s name and year!) in the center of 1 piece of the fabric, inside the lines. If you make a mistake, just let the ink disappear and try again.
Take the embroidery hoop apart by loosening the screw. Then place the 1 piece of fabric over the inner hoop so that your design is in the middle. Snap the outer hoop over the fabric and inner hoop, and then tighten the screw.
Cut an 18-inch piece of embroidery floss. The floss is made up of 6 strands. To embroider, separate 2 strands.
Thread the embroidery needle with those 2 strands. Tie a double knot near the other end of the floss.
Backstitch your design.
When you near the end of your thread, tie a knot under the fabric close to your last stitch. Cut off the extra thread.
When you finish stitching remove the embroidery hoop. Then stitch your friend’s name on the other piece of fabric in the same way.
Then lay 1 piece of fabric on top of the other right sides together. Pin 3 edges together. Use the sewing needle and thread to backstitch these 3 sides, 1/4 inch from each edge.
Unpin the fabric and turn it right side out. Stuff the pincushion with cotton balls until it’s plump.
Tuck the raw edges of fabric inside the pincushion. Pin the edges together and sew the fourth side closed.
Remove the pins. If you like, finish your pincushion by sewing colorful tassels on the corners.
Did You Know: Felicity and Elizabeth practiced their stitchery each afternoon at their lessons with Miss Manderly. They worked on their samplers of stitches, and they made other projects like embroidered pincushions like this one! In Felicity’s day, pincushions were popular baby gifts. Colonists hung pincushions that said “Welcome Little Stranger” on the front doors of families with newborn babies!
Photo of Felicity’s Friendship Pincushion | 1994 | American Girl, LLC., U.S.