free tutorial! tgif quickie :: sushi roll pincushion

I have been seriously jonesin' for some sushi lately, so when it came time to think up this week's quickie, I knew exactly what I wanted to make. One of the first things I ever sold on etsy were these catnip-filled cat toys shaped like sushi. They were pretty hilarious (or so I thought). This is simply a bigger version--minus the catnip, unless you like a little feline company on your sewing table. So roll one for yourself and a few more for the all the sushi lovin' sewers in your life.


Get it:

• Black or dark green fabric cut into a 3.5" x 6" rectangle
• Felt (wool or poly) cut into two 2" circles
• Stuffing
• Lentils or rice (for heft)
• Needle + thread
• colored buttons

Do it:

• Fold your dark colored fabric in half widthwise, right sides together, and sew up the side edge. Now you have a little tube. Cool. Turn right side out.

• This part is kind of a pain. Sorry. It might involve some swear words. Like dang-nabbit and snickerdoodle. Try and keep it clean. Take your needle and thread (one strand doubled and knotted) and sew up through the fabric and up and over the felt and back down. As you whipstitch along the edge, kind of roll the felt circle to meet the fabric like a little hat. When you're halfway done, you might want to add a little stuffing in just to have something firmer to sew against. I tried to take a picture of this part, but you couldn't see squat with the white thread against white felt. If it doesn't come out as tidy as you'd like, just take out your stitching and try again. Felt is nice. It forgives you when you suck.
• Once you've got your circle on, put a small layer of stuffing in the bottom. Layer in a few teaspoons of rice or lentils. This will help your pincushion feel more substantial and keep it from rolling away from you. Add more stuffing, then rice, etc..until it's full. Pack in a little more stuffing for good measure. That's always my philosophy on polyfill and chocolate. Sew on other circle the same way. Add buttons at each end for your desired fillings. Yum. No soy sauce or wasabi required. Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto.

have a great weekend.