Last year I put together a little sewing kit for myself, after getting tired of having more and more clothes that I couldn’t wear for a missing button or the like. (We have a collection of  random mini-sewing kits that have multiplied over the years, bunny-like, but they hide whenever it is time to come out and play.)

I “splurged” in a few places because I knew that under normal use, I was going to be irritated at best to even need a sewing kit (because buttons have no sense of timing when it comes to randomly popping off one’s clothing), and so maybe having something cute or nice would help soften the blow and make me an ever-so-slightly nicer person during such repair work. So: Sweet little glass jar? Check. Cute little wooden spools? Check. Pretty stork scissors? Check. Cheap plastic insert to hold the needles? Check. Wait, what?

Last week I had a neat idea to replace the cheap plastic insert with a little felt pin cushion attached to the inside of the jar lid. So, after some theraputic stabby-time with my felting needles and an even more satisfying stint with my hot-glue gun, I can now reveal my latest felt adventure:

In order to create a core that was dense enough to hold the needles, even when upside down, I started with a small amount of roving and just stabbed the heck out of it with my largest gauge needle until it was very, very dense and maybe 1/3 the size that it started. (And about half the size of my final pin cushion.) Then, I added layers, carefully shaping the cushion as I went. Finally, I put a light layer around the outside, and using my smallest gauge needle, created a prettier, cloud-like effect.

I’m going to give this a few months of testing, but assuming it continues to work as it does now – I’m claiming victory. And I think I will now even SMILE while sewing rebellious buttons back on. (I’m not making any promises about darning, though. I think “darn” is just not quite a strong enough term to cover it.)