Halloween is almost here and I’m in the mood for pumpkins, bats & cauldrons!  With my Harry Potter love, I’m usually in the mood for those things, but it’s always a bit heightened this time of year.

The Cauldron Pin Cushion came out of a discussion over at Harry Potter Crafts some years ago about making useful items that had HP flair.  I had a stockpile of little cauldrons left over from Halloween that just struck me as needing to be pin cushions.  I’ve since made about a dozen of these useful little beauties for friends.  They’re easy, fast and cheap to make!

• Plastic Cauldron Party Favor (available during Halloween & St. Patrick’s Day at party stores)
• marbles or pony beads for weight
• polyfil
• fabric
• needle
• thread
• scissors
• glue gun

Gather your supplies (weights not shown)

Cut a circle about twice the size of the cauldron out of the fabric. Stitch a straight running stitch around the outside.

Pull the running stitch up about half way to gather the fabric circle.

Add weights to the bottom of the cauldron, top with polyfil. Add polyfil to the fabric circle, pull thread tight.

Squeeze hot melt glue under the lip of the cauldron. Push fabric into the cauldron, making sure it catches under the lip.

While we’re talking cauldrons, how about a paper pieced one as well?  This is one of my earliest designs created for the Harry Potter quilt completed in 2007, My Magical Lens.

Get the Cauldron pattern here!

This is part of my “Way Back Craft” series’; patterns, crafts, tutorials and general crafty memories before the days of this craft blog.

Happy Crafting

This tutorial is also available on cut out + keep