What is a Pin Drum and How to Make One

The other day when I shared about designer Kathy Barrick, I mentioned that some of her patterns were for pin drums, and that that wasn’t something I had heard of (and from the size I thought it might have something to do with knitting).

A pin drum is a special kind of pin cushion that is cylinder, or drum, shaped, and they’re a rather traditional design that you don’t see all that often in “modern” cross stitch circles. Kathy’s designs are definitely historically inspired, so that makes sense that it is something she would offer and that I wouldn’t have seen it before since historical designs are not my preference for making.

I found a tutorial at Sirious Stitches all about how to make pin drums, and it’s pretty easy to do.

You just need a band of cross stitch that is as wide as you want your drum to be tall, and as long as you would like it to be around. In the tutorial she uses a bookmark pattern, but you can start with a design that’s made to be a pin drum, or you can design your own based on your own sizing specifications.

Once you’ve got that part done, you’ll need to make the top and bottom for your drum, which they show how to do with a bit of mat board and fabric, but you could probably use poster board or card stock or something else if you have that on hand.

Check out the tutorial for all the details on how to make this fun cross stitch pin cushion. It would be a fun gift to make for a stitching friend, and you can make them with holiday designs, floral themes or really any design you like and whatever size you’d like as well depending on the size of your stitching.

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

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Stitch Designs with a Classic Look from Kathy Barrick

I recently wrote a post on my blog about using a stitchable journal cover and I mentioned that you can make your own stitched cover for a journal by using perforated paper instead of buying a stitchable notebook.

I have to admit, though, that I’ve never used perforated paper for cross stitch myself. I definitely want to because I think it would be great to use for bookmarks that don’t fray and have a little more stability, for example.

Sirious Stitches has us covered, though, because they did a deep dive into all things perforated cross stitch pattern that is worth the time to read through.

The post mentions that a lot of people use perforated paper for cross stitch because they buy an ornament kit that uses it. I’ve never seen these (or at least never noticed that that is what they were) but it’s a great idea to make small projects like ornaments in this way. It also talks about the pros and cons of using cross stitch paper, where to buy it and how to make your own.

Making it yourself is an awesome idea because if you already have a pattern in mind you can just make holes in your paper where you need stitches to be and leave the rest solid. This would be ideal for making greeting cards, for example.

In addition to kits and sheets you can often find the paper pre-cut into different shapes you can use to make your own designs, no real pattern required.

The post also includes tips and advice for how to stitch on perforated paper that you’ll want to check out before you try your first project.

I’m super intrigued by the idea of using perforated paper for cross stitch and will probably be trying it out soon. Have you used it before? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Check out the post over at Sirious Stitches for more information.

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

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