Savvy Upcyclers Transform Old Glass Jars Into A Sewing Kit With An Impressive DIY

Almost anything can become a sewing kit: a sandwich bag, an old toothpaste box, a tacklebox, you name it. But if you're looking for some pizzazz and a bit of added usefulness, this simple and very cool Mason jar DIY from YouTubers @TheSorryGirls has it all. We've shared a few projects from TheSorryGirls before, including a makeup brush holder in our list of ways to repurpose old mason jars. But what makes this one special is that it includes a nifty pincushion that makes it more of a sewing kit than a Mason jar full of stuff.

The pincushion is integrated into the lid of the jar by hot-gluing padding to the top. We've seen similar projects, some of which turn the pincushion up a notch, like a flower-shaped pincushion made from an old sock, a button, and some thread that can be glued onto any sort of jar lid.

But, with this version, TheSorryGirls use the whole canning jar, which makes the final product pretty slick-looking. It also has the benefit of opening up some other possibilities you can't do with just any jar, like using the fruit cup snack pack trick for storing straight pins, safety pins, or whatever you fancy. (The gist is that some fruit cups fit perfectly under a Mason jar ring, allowing you to instantly create a container within a container.) Mason jars lack labels, which makes them easier to use for this craft than, say, spaghetti sauce jars, which have to be cleaned before starting the project.

This trick works because Mason jars have separate canning lids and screw-on rings. This simplifies things, so while TheSorryGirls' pickle jar hack, upcycling them into patio lanterns, required something like a hole saw, you can make the sewing kit with little more than scissors and a hot glue gun. Start by removing the metal sealing lid from the jar (this is one case in which it's okay to use one that's been sealed before). Find a scrap of fabric that you like for the pincushion. Trace a circle about one inch larger than the lid's perimeter, then trace the lid's exact size onto a couple of additional fabric scraps or foam.

Sandwich some kind of pincushion fill, such as more scraps, foam, batting, or a sponge between the two circles and place them on top of the lid. Place your patterned fabric right-side down, then compress the cushion "sandwich" and start hot gluing the larger fabric circle to the underside of the lid while keeping the fill compressed. Once it's glued all the way around, pop the pincushion into the canning ring, then screw your new pincushion lid to the jar of your choice. One cool addition is to stick a length of adhesive-backed magnet to the underside of the pincushion lid, as a place to conveniently attach pins. We've also seen versions that are hand-sewn instead of glued, which makes a pretty alternative. This project makes a good kit for hand-sewing, especially a portable or emergency sewing kit. And it proves that Mason jars aren't trash, but useful items that can be repurposed into many things.