Whimsical pincushions, whether newly made or vintage from any era, are always imaginative, useful, and a delight to behold. Many are surprisingly easy to sew with small bits of fabric and other odds and ends at hand. Pincushions make great gifts for the sewing enthusiast.

I found the book, Super-Cute Pincushions by author Kate Haxell, publisher CICO Books to be charming and informative with illustrations of pincushions that are pretty to look at, practical to use and accompanied by colorful, easy, step-by-step instructions and templates.

For each of the 35 pincushion projects, the author provides detailed instructions on what supplies you will need to assemble and sew, numbered step-by-steps, and full color illustrations. All helpful templates are on the last pages of the book. Many of the suggested supplies many sewers would already have on hand such as scraps of fabric or felt, embroidery floss, tiny buttons, ribbons and fluffy stuffing so sewing any of the adorable pincushions should be simple to stitch - by hand or machine, and rewarding to make. Give as gifts or hold onto as a memorable keepsake reminiscent of times past.

Especially charming are the projects for Mrs. Mouse whose ears double as needle holders, a hedgehog who will need pins for spines, a chapter section designated Quirky But Cute that has instructions for a bottle cap pincushion, colorful Day of the Dead skull, and spiky cactus with pins to name a few. There are chapter headings for Pincushion Pets, Retro Styles, Perfectly Practical and Good Enough To Eat, all with easy to follow techniques. The templates provided are particularly helpful as they are shown at 100% size and do not have to be enlarged. Tracing rather than cutting out the charming templates will of course preserve the pages but may be a bit of a challenge since the book does not lay flat. A spiral bound version of this book would have made the process of using the templates easy.

Super-Cute Pincushions

Disclosure statement: This book was purchased by me, using my own funds, in 2012. I received no other compensation from the publisher or book author and this review contains my sincere opinions about the book.

Sew happy, sew inspired.