In last month’s Country Living I saw some darling strawberry sachets. It brought back a sweet memory of my grandmother who had a similarly styled pincushion. So I decided to give a berry good try in making one myself. Here is the Strawberry Fields Forever Craft.
Strawberry Fields Forever Craft
I did not like my first prototype AT ALL! The Country Living sachet had two unhemmed stars masquerading as leaves. I found that since I hadn’t used fray check (a liquid applied to the fabric to stop it from fraying) after just a bit of handling the leaves looked horrible. I try not to use fray check very much as the downside of using it is that it makes your fabric feel somewhat crunchy. So I put on my thinking cap and finally a thought occurred: “Why don’t I just make a bigger strawberry sachet so it can do double duty as a sachet AND pincushion and create the top out of a yo~yo?” The result, I thought, was pretty cute.
Of course, one reason they might be so cute was that I made the berries and leaves from vintage fabric scraps and buttons from the ’30s, ’40s, and 50s that I have been hoarding collecting.
There are red, white and blueberries…
…pink berries…
and traditional red berries all filled with sweet-smelling organic lavender that I purchased from Mountain Rose Herbs.
I cut and sewed the berries while watching Sweet Boy at his twice-weekly one-hour tennis lessons. It helped keep my mind off the fact I was sitting in 115-degree sunshine. They measure 3 inches by 2 inches and hold about 20 pearl headed pins.
If you don’t happen to have a stash of vintage fabric on hand or perhaps enough time to sew, never fear, I’ve stocked a few in my Etsy shop.
Update: Thank you! They sold out in two hours.
Laura
Very sweet! Have a great week! Marilou
Berry sweet! Laura, I love that you write about memories with your grandmother…my post yesterday was
about collecting sand dollars with mine.
~Lynne
[w /l]
That middle bowl of berries looks just like my Grandma's quilts. I love the pinkberries and the strawberries and the red, white and blueberries, too.
Laura you never cease to amaze me!! These berry cushions are adorable and with lavender?! What could be better!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
I have a New, very fashionable Giveaway on my site! Come and enter!
HI LAURA!!!
They are Berry Beautiful!!!Love that you sewed them up in that heat!!!I can barely think in this heat, let alone sew something up!!!
Great job
hugs,
jamie
Just lovely!! Well done you!
Blessings!
Ann
they are so cute
Laura,
I saw your inspirational strawberries in Country Living but I like your adaption even more! I am on my way over to your shop to order a few.
Your Friend,
Deborah
Now this is a really cute way to use the vintage fabric and buttons! I can't wait to show my mom. She has a ton of both.
Loved it.
Good thinking, Laura! I think the yo-yo's work great on the tops! These are so pretty, I like them in a grouping. I think they'd look great all together in a bowl or container.
wholly crap woman……….them's a lot-O-berries!!!! They are berry, berry cute!
I wish I had half your energy girlfriend. Hopefully I'll find something out in regards to my mom's situation this week. It's been almost three weeks now and they're talking of moving her to a nursing facility. I'd like us to get together sometime around the 6th or shortly thereafter if you can make that.
Love ya'
Meri
Love these! They are absolutely adorable! Hand stitching what looks to be a gazillion of these in the southern heat is super impressive, too. I like your double duty ones better than your inspiration. Thanks for sharing.
Toooooooooooo cute!! Just LOVE LOVE LOVE them! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)
I'm very excited about yo-yos right now (possibly because I'm a beginning sewer and they're one thing I can make that look decent). Those berries are incredibly cute.
they are adorable! the vintage fabric just makes them! and they do bring back good memories!
Berry Cute!! And about the fray check – Try FRAY BLOCK. It's much better than fray check. I love the stuff. I never liked the end result of fray check either. Someone tipped me on the fray block years ago when I was doing some fine sewing for my little girl. I had to order it at that time but my local Jo-Ann Fabrics carries it now. I've never looked back!
Happy Summer!
Those are so great! I love all the vintage fabric. Good job.
How many did you make? That is so cute, I love the idea of the yo yo…
Laura, these are adorable. Very sweet and delicious. Lisa~
These are just too cute! They remind me of my granny. She used to make little pincushions like this when I was a little girl. I love your vintage materials. So inspiring and fresh.
Have a wonderful Monday, and keep cool!
Jen
Your blog is just gorgeous. The strawberries are adorable too.
Jeanna @ dramaqueenseams.blogspot.com
En cette période estivale rien de mieux que des fraises sous toutes les formes… Superbe publication.
gros bisous.
Those are so completely charming. They remind me of the small version my Mom has – it was attached to something that looked like a tomato pincushion though, and the smaller strawberry was something for sharpening needles (at least that's what Mom always said).
She still has that in her sewing box.
Hi Laura,
Me again. I had to look it up – the kind my Mom has is:
a Dritz tomato pin cushion (with the strawberry attached). Not sure what's behind the tomato & strawberry connection but it's cute. 🙂
Linda
That's a whole lotta sewing, Laura! Reminds me of the tomato pin cushion we have around somewhere, but these are far cuter~
So so cute!!! I love the strawberry ones!!
Laura, I absolutely love these! Anything that involved a yo-yo is adorable to me. I may be consulting with my FDIL to see what she thinks of these to add to her wedding deco. Ann
Delicious strawberries Laura – I would be tempted to put one in my mouth!!!!
Shane
Wow, you sure went to town making strawberries! They are lovely!
cute as a button!!!!
these are way cute!!!
Love your sweet berry collection. AND we are NOT hoarders…we are simply extremely patient people who are waiting for the perfect reason to use that certain something we have so lovingly stored in a spot so safe, even we can't always find it!
And they say if you keep something for seven years, it will come in useful. Of course some of the stuff I have has been going on it's third or fourth seven year cycle but that's OK. It will just be that much for useful when I finally find a use for it…if I live to be that old! 😀
I bought, at the last LA gift show, some tomato lavender pin cushions. They smell and look great. They are made from vintage fabrics too. Yours are precious, and very salable. The ones I got are $18 retail. Think about it.