Who Doesn't Love a Doughnut?

Yum. Right? I don't eat doughnuts very often. Well, because... they are just TOO good! And I like them way too much!

But a few years ago a friend gave me a doughnut that is so cute, and I love so much, and it did not go directly to my hips! She

gave me this doughnut pincushion.

Adorable!

I liked it so much, and I use it (as you can see), but I always wanted to make one. I tried to make one without directions, but failed . I cut the hole way too big, and I could not figure out how to sew it with an opening for the stuffing.

Then I found this book:

And there was a photo of the cute doughnut pincushions right on the cover!

So, I set out. The directions were really nice, and helped me a lot. There was not really a pattern. It just said to trace something round, and don't make the inside hole too big.

I traced around a little tin. I used some brown felt for my chocolate doughnuts, and beige for plain.

You need to mark the center, and cut out some frosting as well.

I just cut free style for the frosting, and then cut out the centers.

After you cut the center circle out, you sew all the way around both the inside and the outside. When I was trying to figure this out on my own, I had no thought of doing it this way.

I learned a good trick to avoid having to clip the curves with tiny scissors, all the while hoping not to cut into the seam. What do you think it is?

PINKING! What a great idea. If you cut around a curve, close to the seam , with your pinking shears, you accomplish the same thing as clipping clipping clipping around the curve.

After you pink around, you turn it right side out and stuff it.

There are several things for inside pincushions. For this, I only used regular craft stuffing. But, you can use these ground nut shells too.

I have heard of using steel wool, to keep needles sharp, but have never tried that.

After stuffing, hand sew the doughnut closed.

Now for the frosting. In the directions it did not say to do this, but I put my sprinkles on first - before I applied the frosting. This took a bit of time. For the chocolate doughnuts I used multi colored beads for sprinkles.