Blogs

'Tis the Season for Giving

This little Pins & Parcels Pincushion is so sweet and easy--and a perfect last-minute handmade gift for a friend.  Several years ago, the pattern was featured as part of the Pin Lover's Club, but in case you missed it, today we're gifting you the instructions!

It's Our Birthday!

This month, Just Another Button Company celebrates 28 years of button fun.  Not really a milestone, but every birthday/anniversary is an occasion to celebrate the past, present and future with candles on a cake.  And naturally our cake must be a felt-y concoction decorated with buttons and pins. So we made it--a slice of layer cake dressed for a party--and the pattern is ready to share! 

Spring Exploded on the Studio Design Table

The button studio worktable was piled with luscious felted-wool eggs, buttons and pins, but the projects just didn't come together until I happened on this ceramic egg tray at a local craft supplier.  First I popped in the eggs, then had fun adding other design elements.

Sharing Some Love

As a treat for our stitching friends, we've assembled favorite tips for working with felt and felted wool--all in one place! To keep with the LOVE-theme, tip illustrations are from some of our favorite Valentine's Day projects. And the best part...you can print or save the entire tip list for free!

More fun for pie lovers

Pumpkin Spice Hoop-Tuffet is an easy adaption of the Just Desserts Pumpkin Spice Roll.  This 2022 design was so much fun that we came up with two Fall desserts for 2023--Caramel Apple Pie and Perfect Pumpkin PIe.  One pattern makes both pies.  And now you can make an Apple Pie Hoop-Tuffet to complete the set!

There's Pincushion Potential Everywhere

Warm yourself from the inside out with a mug of hot chocolate--even if you don't plan to drink it.  We came across a demitasse cup and while it's tiny size is intended for drinking espresso, it's the perfect proportion for a hot chocolate pincushion.

Plain or Fancy -- a Hoop-Tuffet is the easiest pincushion around

Make a Hoop-Tuffet with an embroidery hoop and wool--each contributes elements of good design and function with minimal assembly.  Then decide if you want just the clean lines or should you go over-the-top?

Start with a small embroidery hoop--and choose a nice wood one with smooth, rounded edges.  You can paint the hoop if you want to add some color, but wait until the end.  The outer hoop is removeable even after finishing, and you may decide you like the natural wood color just fine.  The photos show a 3" hoop--4 and 5" also work well.

Our favorite felted wool is from Weeks Dye Works.  The wool is sturdy and beautifully hand-dyed.  It stretches smoothly when stuffed with wool roving and is kind to needles and pins--perfect for pincushions.

Instructions for a Hoop-Tuffet

Cut a square of felted wool 2” larger than the diameter of the hoop--a 5” square for a 3” circle hoop.  Cut a second square one inch less for covering the back—4” square.

Base: Loosen the screw and remove the inner section of the hoop.  Trace around the outer edge of the inner hoop on lightweight cardboard.  Trace a second circle, cut out both and glue together.  Trim the corners of the smaller wool square to make a rough circle, then hand sew a long running stitch (1/4" stitches) along the outer edge, leaving the thread attached for gathering.  Center the cardboard sandwich on the wool circle and pull the stitches to gather tightly.  Secure and knot the thread. This is the tuffet base—set aside for now.

Tuffet Top: Lay the inner wood hoop on a flat surface and center the larger wool square over top.  Loosen the screw on the outer hoop and press down over the wool and inner hoop.  Tighten the screw, but don’t tug the wool—it should be smooth, but not taut.

Flip the hoop to the back and trim the corners of the wool to leave a circle (don’t trim more than necessary to create the shape.  Hand sew a long gathering stitch at the outer edge.  Pull to gather then secure and knot the thread.

Pull off bits of roving and fill the inside edges of the hoop between the wool front and back.  Continue to stuff, first the edges then the center, to raise the tuffet shape on top.  The felted wool will stretch as you work, and adding the wool roving in bits prevents lumps.  

Finishing: When you can press the hoop down on a surface and see a nice dome shape, remove the outer hoop and sew the base to the back. Replace the outer hoop and tighten the screw.  The base is intentionally sturdy to push the roving up into the tuffet.  It also holds the hoop up off a table surface just a bit which offers plenty of embellishment opportunities.  You can add a row of trim below the outer hoop or push the outer hoop down a little and add trim around the little shelf of the inner hoop.

Feeling Really Creative?

Have you noticed how the best part of a muffin is the top?  Bakeries figured that out too and started selling Muffin Tops--just the top, with all the good stuff.  You can make a Pumpkin Spice muffin top pincushion, beginning with your completed Hoop-Tuffet.

We used the Pumpkin Spice Roll Pincushion pattern #P1081 to cut and assemble a candy pumpkin, cream swirl, cinnamon stick, 3 puffs of whipped cream and a star anise.  (The star anise works best with a wool-felt blend, but everything else is WDW wool again.)  Tack the decorative tidbits to the pincushion and add some button sprinkles. Finish with a set of handmade pins.  Looks good enough to eat!

Supply List

• 3" embroidery hoop (or 4-5")
• Felted wool
• Wool Roving

The items below are available on our website, click HERE

Have fun creating pincushions, plain or fancy!

Perforated paper makes all the difference when I cross stitch--I can see where to stitch!

Whether you're a fan for speed or convenience--or like me, because your eyes appreciate the holes, perforated paper is a great fit for lots of stitching projects.  I especially like the new 18 ct. paper from Wichelt.  Two strands of floss cover the surface completely so holes disappear in a design area (see the banner below), and in unstitched areas, the tiny holes provide interesting texture, and aren't distracting at all.  I also love that I can fit curves into a small space--script writing is so readable!

Go Where Your Wings Take You

We delight in putting together easy projects that are clever and unique.  Nothing makes that more fun than having a brand new embellishment.  The Busy Bee Pincushion combines all our favorite materials AND uses the new bumblebee wings. 

After years of creating with handmade buttons and pins, the bumblebee wings gave us a new perspective.  They're pins, but that's not the first thing you see--instead, you see wings.

Overflowing with Cuteness

It used to be that the button crew at Just Another Button Company was a bit more youthful -- with lots of young children between us.  Now several of us have grandchildren--with three new baby boys just in the last few months.

It's no surprise then that our newest cross stitch designs feature a baby boy and baby girl--and take a look at that adorable button pacifier.  So much cuteness!

Winter Woolie Penguin Pincushion--Limited Edition Kit

Winter Woolie Penguin is a pattern and a PDF, and for a very limited time, you can order the wool kit to make your own.  And, yes, the mini-beanie is included!

The kit includes hand-dyed felted wool from Weeks Dye Works, plus buttons and the mini-beanie. 

2021 -- Looking for the Bright Spots

Remember Beau & Belle Snow Tuffets?  Creating this Valentine pair kept me occupied during COVID recovery last January: sleep a while, sew a while; sleep some more; repeat.  I stitched both tuffets by hand--perfect, as I spent many a day just sitting on my bed.  Eventually the Snow couple would become a sewing pattern, but for the moment they were just a bright spot in a gloomy month.

HAUNT CUISINE - Are you wishing for a button project?

Halloween buttons inspire lots of ideas for stitching, and we're sharing two of our newest with you.  You'll recognize the buttons from your new HAUNT CUISINE Button Lover's Club tin. 

Don't have these buttons? The tins shipped September 1st, but we still have some in stock.  Join now and you can begin your subscription with this collection.

HAUNT CUISINE--it's what we've "cooked up" for September 

The bubbling cauldron button--with extra button bubbles, of course--inspired the name for this seasonal tin.  Keep reading for a little story about how we put this Button Lover's Club tin together for you.

If you've been following our social media and email messages, you know we're  celebrating our 25th year -- pulling out button projects from years past and re-inventing our favorites.  We've even created some limited-edition kits.  We know you like our kits, and yes, we used to have lots.  Now the kits are a special item--so a perfect way to celebrate our history. And having an "event" is a great way to share!

You helped make last weekend's Something Wicked Halloween Event a smashing success.  Spooky spoolkeeps made an appearance and we introduced Webster--a button spider who's only slightly scary.

Long ago families often had picnics while gathered at cemeteries to decorate the graves of veterans who had made the ultimate sacrifice. 

Picnics and family reunions may be more light-hearted today, but we still take time to salute those who lost their lives in service.

Bird's Tiny Garden

Visiting garden centers is the best part of May.  Finally we can take home the tiny plants and fill containers...maybe add a bit of whimsy.

Bird's Tiny Garden is planted with imaginary violet blooms in a pretty blue dish.  A variety of green wools and leaf shapes makes the "plant selection" especially fun.

Here in St. Louis, you're Cardinal Nation or you're not, but we don't want to leave anyone out.  For any team you cheer, celebrate baseball season with a new Pin-Mini set -- and use the free instructions to make a baseball pincushion.

We've shown our Spoolkeep Pincushions before--a spool and a felted wool ball.  Now we've added a bit of embroidery to create a baseball.

Oh how we love Spring!

Bunny has a tulip for you, and the soft pastels make this month's pincushion perfect as a Spring bowl filler too. Join Pin Lover's Club to get a free pattern for A Tulip For You.

It Began with a Snowman

If you were following Just Another Button Company in 2011, you'll remember the crazy ambitious idea we had to celebrate our 15th year in business with "15 Fabulous Pincushions."  We were 15 and Fabulous, and we did it, starting with Jabco the Snowman.

Over the years since, we published over 50 wool pincushion patterns--all carefully written so all sewers can successfully make the pincushions, even beginners without a machine.

Now flash forward to 2021--our 25th year in business.  We've been making plans for wild and wonderful projects and celebrations.  It's a big deal for a small business to make it to year 25, right?  At the beginning of January, we updated our website and social media with a new logo and prepared to jump into the plans feet first.

#MakeSomeHappy with a Button Spill

It was love at first frost.

While brainstorming for the January Take Heart Tin: Love Notes, we hit on the idea of combining Valentine's Day and snow people.  We're all crazy about the cute couple these two new buttons make, but still haven't hit on the right names...

Crystal and Clark?

Flurry and Frosty?

Help us give them names so we can reveal the rest of the buttons in this darling tin! Comment below or on social media with your suggestion for names.