Bottle Cap Pin Cushion Ring Tutorial

This is a great pin cushion to own and use! It’s little, making it perfectly portable for hand projects. And because it has a firm base, when wearing it, you can’t accidently poke a pin through to your skin.

A tutorial follows below, or click here to go to another website where you can print the five-page PDF.

Hands and pin cushion rings shown below belong to my best quilting buds, the Batting Buds.

These ring pin cushions are made with 2 liter, plastic pop bottle caps. The caps are available in an array of colors. Besides the ones shown, I’ve seen black and green.

Supplies: bottle cap, 1 fabric print, polyester fiberfill, hand-sewing thread/needle, ¼” wide elastic, and ribbon, rick-rack, or lace for trim

Tools: drill or other punch tool, scissors, hot glue gun or bottle glue

Make the Ring

Begin by drilling or punching two holes in a bottle cap. I used a 5/32nd size drill bit to make holes large enough for ¼”-wide elastic.

If you’re going to the effort to get out a drill, you might as well drill a bunch of them at once!

Thread ¼”-wide elastic through a hole, from the outside to the inside of the cap.

Tie, then tie again to make a firm knot. Trim to remove any tail.

Insert the opposite end of the elastic from the outside to the inside of the cap.

Try on the ring to size it. Don’t pull the elastic too tight. Aim for the elastic to simply lay around your finger. You want to be able to easily put it on and take it off.

Make a small mark to indicate where to tie the second knot.

Tie the second knot. Trim to remove any tail.

Make the Cushion

Draw a 3” circle onto the right side of a piece of fabric. Cut it out on the drawn line.

Thread a needle and knot the ends together. Take running stitches around the perimeter of the circle, approximately 3/16” to ¼” from the edge.

Draw up the circle, inserting polyester fiberfill as you do.

You will need more fiberfill than you might guess. Fill it to resemble a stuffed mushroom cap.

Pull the the circle closed as tightly as possible. Take a few more stitches and knot securely.

Add more fiberfill if needed, using the point of a chopstick to push and guide the fiberfill.

Check to see that the cushion fits the ring base.

Now is the time to decide whether you want to enlarge or reduce the size of the cushion.

Gather any trims you might use to embellish your ring.

Plug in your hot glue gun.

Join the Ring and the Cushion

Secure the elastic knots in the ring base by touching them with hot glue.

Cover the cushion base with hot glue, and insert into the ring base.

Add any embellishment you desire.

This is when you can cover up any printed numbers or words stamped on the side of the bottle cap.

Wear whenever you’re stitching.

Expect people to notice your pretty ring!

Someone in an airport noticed mine, smiling and gesturing about it across the waiting area!

Be sure to send me pictures of your pin cushion rings. I can't wait to see what you create.