DIY : Cupcake Pin Cushion

So you know how it goes when you visit a particular shopping website looking to buy one specific thing, and you decide to check the clearance section...just in case...?  I did that a couple weeks ago at Nancy's Notions.  I had to buy outdoor upholstery to recover patio cushions for my brother, but found this adorable cupcake pin cushion kit on sale! 

Now Peachie is a weaver of cakes.  I mean that both figuratively as she can work magic with buttercream and literally as she has arrived at HVG functions with layer cakes covered in basketweave frosting.  So this project immediately made me think of her.  But then I needed an occasion to gift this...I finally decided that both she and Wild Kat *needed* a pin cushion as a thank you gift for helping me out with the Miss Symco Pin-Up Contest next month.

To begin, I should say that I did not follow all of the directions included in the kit (bad habit of mine).  I had my kids save their Greek yogurt containers to use as the base.  The cupcake paper was made from a 3 1/2 inch wide strip that I sewed several pleats into.  The pleats are set approximately one inch apart, 1/8 at the top widening out to a 1/4 at the bottom.  The strip is then wrapped around the cup and sewn together to make a tube.

I glued the bottom edge to the cup, making sure that all the pleats folded in the same direction.  Then I cut out a circle to make a yo-yo for the bottom.  Simply run a basting stitch around the outside edge of the circle, gather it in until it is the size that you need to cover all the raw edges and press.  I stitched this onto the bottom of the cupcake by hand.

I put a large rock into the cup to add weight and filled the rest with poly-fill.  Another yo-yo in chocolate brown, gathered around the outside edge, will form the cupcake top.  All my yo-yos were made by tracing saucers that seemed to be the right size.  Aside from not following directions, I also don't fuss over the details too much!

After the chocolate top is fitted onto the base, I pinned and hand-stitched the two together. 

Finally, I was down to the decorating.  My daughter really wanted me to follow the directions and do ruffled frosting, but I wasn't sold on that.  When I came across an embroidered peach patch in my sewing basket, it was a no-brainer. 

So yesterday when we all got together for a car show, Peachie received the peach chocolate cupcake and Wild Kat, the cherry chocolate one.  We're three weeks out from the pin-up contest, and I have to make sure my girls are happy!  Honestly this was a fun, quick project.  And since I don't need any more pin cushions, I was glad to know that these will be put to good use.  Now I need to decide if I should sew up a new outfit for the contest...or keep working on the seat covers for my '50 Ford...?