Know someone that loves to sew? Chances are they would love to receive some personalised pin heads from you! If you have all the equipment, this is such an easy craft, and as anything is with shrink paper.. a lot of fun!
Equipment
Permanent Ink Pens (I recommend ZIG millenium pens read more why here)
Circle hole punch, or scissors
Pins
Sponge
Shrink Paper
Embossing Heat Gun or Oven
& most likely a potato
1. Cut out circles…
The circle that my punch makes is 12mm wide (or .47inches). You can make this a bit bigger, but if you make the circles too big, they won’t be practical to use for sewing. If you don’t have a circle punch that small.. just eye it out.. if they aren’t a perfect circle, then you’re obviously going for a quirky look.
2. Draw you designs…
If you want detail in your pin heads, it’s important to make sure that you use a fine tipped permanent ink pen. I just drew these images free-hand (no template), as when the pin heads have shrunk all the little imperfections magically vanish!
3. Pierce your pin head…
4. Shrink pin head…
You can either shrink the pin heads with an embossing heat gun as shown in the video, or your can shrink them in the oven. Just follow the instructions on your shrink plastic wrapping. So that the pin heads keep their shape, stick them into a potato or carrot before you put them in the oven so the heads aren’t touching anything, otherwise they will set askew.
These lovelies were made using a small heart punch and coloured with some pencils.
It’s too easy not to do! Have fun!
that idea is genius and would work awesome for jewelry headpins. mind if i pass it along on my blog?
go for it!
A great idea thank you for sharing it!
I have to get some shrink paper. This is the second great project I’ve run across! Thanks for the idea.
so cute. They would look great as pins for the centre of fabric flower boutonniere too. I may the idea for making earring studs too.
HOW COOL!!
You can make your own shrink plastic. Use plastic marked for recycling with a 6 in a little triangle. Sand very lightly with very fine sandpaper on one side so it will take marker or colored pencil.
so lovely! small pieces of jewelry!
Oh these ARE cool. I am fabric-challenged (don’t sew) but I use a ton of corsage size pins in my crafting. This looks like a (brilliant) idea that is easy enough that I could do. Love it! Thank you for sharing.
Kimanh, do you mind me linking and featuring this on my blog this week?
Thanks,
-Molly
Hi Molly, so glad you like this tut! Please just refer to the footer of this site where you can find a link for the terms of reposting. Thanks! Kimanh
Those are awesome! Thank you!
I love these – I’m a fan of shrink plastic, and I’m seeing a lot of jewelry uses for these. Thanks for sharing!
i am in love with this idea!! i have a hard time with the smaller, thinner pins with the tiny flat heads on them (sorry, i’m a beginner sewer so i don’t know what they’re called haha), and i think doing this would make them easier for me to pick up, with the added benefit of being super cute!! thanks for the tutorial
Love this! What temp do you set your oven at? I’m going the oven route because I’m on a budget and I’m sure a potato is cheaper than the gun
Hi Karin, just refer to the instructions for your heat gun. It’ll make sense when you start shrinking them. The hotter the oven is, the quicker it will shrink. If the temp is too low it won’t shrink at all.
So cute!! Definitely on my list of things to do!
I absolutely love these pinheads! This is such a great project I am going to share it with my friends on Facebook or maybe just make a bunch with my kids.
This idea will also be great to make spacer pins that are used in bobbin or pillow lace.
What a great tutorial. I made some for my mom and she just loved them! I posted my variation on my blog. Thanks so much for the inspiration.
This is really awesome! do you have any idea of how “shrink paper” is called in spanish? what is it exactly?
Really cute, nice idea!
Hi Lote,
I think the translation would be pretty direct. I would also suggest searching online for the “Shrinkles” (UK) brand which I used, or “Shrinky Dinks” which is popular in America.
All the best,
Kimanh
Shrink plastic is also #6 recyclable. It’s what many of the clamshell salad bar containers are made of. Just look for the number in the recycling symbol. If you use the shiny clamshell plastic, just rough up one side with sandpaper, and draw your design on the rough side. I think these pinheads are adorable!
thank you for sharing.
this is a fun project!
Loved this! I recently started sewing and wanted less generic pinheads so I made a bunch for myself, and for my mom, who has been sewing for years. I used #6 plastic, colored it with Sharpies, and put them in my oven because I don’t have an embossing gun.
We design lapel pins using prints and epoxy domes. Perhaps a similar method of making these pin heads is to cure epoxy on a printed decal?
Oh! I love this idea. This is really awesome. They look so great. Thanks for sharing this DIY idea.