Daisies & Forget-me-nots by Ana Mallah

If you are looking for a pattern for the most adorable pincushions you could imagine then you need look no further than Daisies and Forget-Me-Nots by Ana Mallah from The Design Collective | Pincushions.

Ana, who is well known for her wonderfully realistic 3D floral designs, has dreamed up two little pincushions that combine stumpwork with a perfectly practical shape.

These two little projects are guaranteed to make you smile and bring gasps of admiration from all who see them.

Both pincushions are in the shape of little pots surrounded by flowers. The body of each design includes various surface stitches for the stalks, leaves and grass, topped with three-dimensional flower heads.

When Ana first imagined these pincushions, she hadn’t quite realised the challenge in bringing them to fruition. Unlike most stumpwork designs Ana had created, in this one she needed to come up with a way to make the flower centres freestanding.

Ordinarily, stumpwork flowers would be created with petals worked as detached elements fastened around a centre that has been stitched directly on to the fabric. Because the heads of the flowers needed to sit proud of the edge of the pincushion, this wasn’t going to work.

It took a few attempts and a bit of trial and error, but eventually Ana found a creative way to make the floral centres using wire, fabric adhesive and different stitches to emulate the actual centres of the flowers.

Each pincushion has a halo of flowers around the outside; eight daisies and ten forget-me-nots. This means there are quite a few petals to stitch! Ana’s advice is to have your hoop and fabric ready and every time you get a few spare minutes, make another petal. Working through them one by one, eventually you’ll get them all done and you’ll be able to move on to the next part of the design.

For some of us, this is a much better way to work than sitting down with the daunting task of creating dozens of petals all at once!

To add a little bit of whimsy, Ana has included a little insect on each pincushion; a ladybird busily exploring the daisies and a bee alighting on a forget-me-not.

The tiny creatures sit close to the flowers so as not to get in the way of the clear space on the top of the shape which is just right to put pins in.

Although these two pincushions are designed to be very practical, they are so cute that you could easily imagine seeing them sitting on a windowsill or mantlepiece just like a little pot of flowers. We love how such a utilitarian project can be transformed into something so lovely.

Whether you use these pincushions for pins or you simply leave them out to admire, you’ll be equally proud of the time and effort you have put in to complete this project.

Make Your Own Daisies & Forget-me-nots

Step 1 – Purchase Project Instructions

Daisies & Forget-me-nots by Ana Mallah is two enchanting pincushions, surrounded by pretty stumpwork flowers.

Step 2 – Purchase Ready-To-Stitch Kit

The Inspirations Ready-To-Stitch kits for Daisies & Forget-me-nots include everything* you need to re-create these adorable pincushions: Fabrics (unprinted), wool felts, fusible interfacing, fusible webbing (Daisies kit), template plastic, wires, long pin, fibre-fill, embroidery threads and needles.

*Please Note: To cater for flexibility of purchase, instructions are not included with our kits. For step-by-step directions on how to create this project, please refer to the book.