Bumblebee Garden ~ Altered Shoe Pin Cushion with Sharpener

I finally finished up the mate to my other altered floral shoe.  I really wanted this one to be a pin cushion, so the first step was to create the pin cushion on the inside of the shoe using a small bit of vintage wool fabric.  I pulled the original shoe insert out of the shoe and cut a new shoe insert out of heavy felt.  The felt gave me a good base for creating a cushion out of polyfil.  I stuffed the cushion very full.

I completely filled the shoe with silk flowers.  The flowers I found at a neighbor’s garage sale.  They were brand new with the price tags still on them.   I put in the leaves and big flowers first before filling in with smaller flowers.

I created a lovely floral garden with a beautiful mix of colors.  I placed the flowers randomly around the shoe.  Every angle is slightly different and full of surprises.

Here’s the back of the shoe.  I left the white spray of flowers dangling.  I wanted my art to extend beyond it’s base.  Because I made the shoe into a pin cushion I didn’t want it to take up too much room

Like the little strawberry needle sharpener that goes with the pin cushion tomato, I wanted to create a needle sharpener to go along with my floral garden theme.  The bee is part of the pink cushion set.  It is completely removable.  I just pinned him on with pins.

The bee was made from wool fabric.  I cut two ovals, sewed them together and filled them from emery grain.  I felted black and yellow roving over the top of the wool.  Although you can’t see his eyes, he does have little bead eyes and an antennae.

I think my pin cushion and needle sharpening set is wonderful.  It’s a great way to recycle beautiful used shoes.  I have two more pairs of shoes to re-purpose.  I’m just waiting for them to speak to me.

 Note:  I bought the emery grain at a fellow estsian’s shop, Nakpunar.

Here’s the etsy listing for this item, Bumblebee Garden.