Last year I discovered biscornus, little pincushion type things in a fun octagonal shape. If you make little biscornus and add a ribbon or cord loop then they can be attached to your small scissors and make them much harder to lose.

A biscornu is made from 2 squares of fabric. An aida fabric is ideal because you want the 2 squares to be absolutely identical for the biscornu to work when you sew it up. The aida fabric is also perfect for a symmetrical embroidery design which is important for a biscornu too.

Last year I shared a free pattern and full step by step photo tutorial to make this mini biscornu.

I made a little biscornu scissor keeper for a friend’s birthday gift recently and created a slightly different embroidery design so I thought I’d share it with you all here.

To make a mini embroidered biscornu you need:

• 2 x squares of 14 count Aida - each 12cm (4.75") square

• 2 x tiny 1.5cm (.75") squares of Aida to reinforce the button (optional & not photographed)

• a skein of embroidery thread - I used DMC coloris 4506 which is a variegated blue, green and yellow

• embroidery needle

• seed beads

• 32cm (12.5") length of matching cord or thin ribbon

• fibre fill

• 2 small buttons

• the design sheet here

Pop over to my original biscornu post to see the full, complete instructions of how to put a biscornu together.

Work the design using 2 strands of thread and a double running stitch or backstitch. The square outline is worked in backstitch but you can work the rest of the design in a double running stitch if you prefer.

I’ve not done a separate pattern for the back, you can make yours more special and do the same pattern on both sides or do what I did and just add the corner flowers on the back. Add seed beads in the flower centres, you could do french knots instead if you prefer.

Once the embroidery is completed then follow the instructions here to magically turn the two flat squares into the 3D biscornu shape.

The variegated coloris thread gives a lovely effect without lots of work or starting and stopping and the beads at a little something extra. This time I added a button on both sides too.

A biscornu really is a fun thing to stitch. They are fairly quick and the way the shape is made is so clever and much simpler than it looks. If you like hand sewing at all I really recommend you give them a go.

Julie

I’ll be sharing this project at these link ups.