{make} Valentine the Voodoo Pincushion

Meet Valentine. He’s the patron saint of romance-resisting, Hallmark-hating, Cupid-cursing folks everywhere. Spending this Valentine’s Day single? Betrayed by a beau? Or maybe your troubles aren’t strictly romantic. Perhaps you were passed over for that latest promotion at work? Fear not. Valentine the Voodoo Pincushion to the rescue! Hey, we all need a bright and fuzzy outlet for our pent-up aggressions now and again, don’t we? Check out the super easy and fun instructions and make your own Valentine!

What you’ll need ~

• Felt in the colors of your choice (we used neon green and pink)
• Embroidery floss in white and contrasting colors of choice (we used hot pink and orange)
• Stuffing, i.e. polyester fiberfill
• Scissors
• Needle
• Two buttons
• Template for voodoo doll (I have provided a free downloadable template, but you can cut the shapes out freehand, too)
• Freezer paper and permanent marker

How to make it ~

Makes one pincushion approx. 5″ tall.

If you’re going to use our downloadable template, go ahead and print it out. Next, I took a piece of freezer paper and traced my shapes onto the paper side (not the shiny side) with a marker.

Cut the shapes out of the freezer paper. For each pincushion you’re making, you’ll need two of the body shapes and one heart.

To easily cut them out of the felt, place your freezer paper stencil shiny side down on the appropriate felt color, turn an iron on low heat and iron the paper for a few seconds. The freezer paper stencil should be sticking to the felt, so you can cut out the shape with sharp scissors, peel off the paper stencil and repeat as necessary.

Once you cut out the heart, cut it in half in a zig-zag pattern to look like two broken pieces.

Start by sewing on the eyes. Choose two buttons (different sizes and colors look great) and sew them on to the front body piece with a contrasting color of embroidery floss (separated into a section of 3 strands. If you try to do this at the end of the floss, you’ll wind up with a tangled mess. Just gently pull apart at the middle, and you’ll have two sections!).

Next, work on your decorative stitching. Sew your two heart halves on with white embroidery floss. Add stitching for the mouth and elsewhere on the body in another color – whatever you like the looks of. I did a cross stitch on his leg, a random stitch on his arm, etc. Be creative!

Once you’re happy with the way Valentine looks, it’s time to stuff him and transform him into a pincushion! I used little clumps of polyester fiberfill but use whatever you have or like best.

Switching back to the white embroidery floss, stitch his back half to his front half with a blanket stitch. (For instructions on a blanket stitch, click here.) As I was sewing both halves together, I would continue to add stuffing to get a nice even look rather than lumps.

Voilá! Valentine is ready to serve as your everyday pincushion or your voodoo doll when the mood strikes. Enjoy!

Tagged as: craft post, diy project, felt project, pincushion, sewing, Valentine's Day, voodoo doll