Weaving Bobbins as Spindle Ornaments

Because Greenville, SC (where I used to live) was historically a textile town, the relics of those old fabric mills are found in every vintage shop around. And repurposing those relics is a favorite pastime- including these weaving bobbins (Pirns? Quills? I’ve seen them called all sorts of things) that I found. Because they were on the smaller side, I decided to turn them into spindle ornaments for our Christmas tree!

And this is not the only Christmas project I’ve made by upcycling something from the old textile mill industry. Remember these thread cone trees that I created?

Back to the task at hand, though. All I needed to do was give them a paint job and figure out a way to hang them from my Christmas tree. An easy and fun Christmas craft, for sure!

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Upcycling the Weaving Bobbins

If you can’t seem to find these vintage wooden bobbins or quills in your neck of the woods, check on Etsy, as well. There are almost always listings for them- just double check the lengths before you purchase, as some can be quite long.

First, I painted the weaving bobbins with an “undercolor”- I chose shimmery gold and silver. 

Why an “undercolor”? Because I planned on distressing these so that two colors would show through!

Next, I rubbed plain ole’ paraffin wax over the pirns. The wax will help during the distressing process by allowing the top coat of paint to be rubbed off without sanding.

After I rubbed on the wax, I painted the weaving bobbins again in a brighter “overcolor”. For this step, I chose a chalk paint red and turquoise blue.

I absolutely love the color combo of a bright poppy red and an aqua or turquoise at Christmas time!

Upcycled Christmas Ornaments from Pirns or Weaving Bobbins

Once the chalk paint had dried, I rubbed off some of it off with a soft rag. This revealed the flashy metallic paint underneath, which was exactly what I had wanted to happen!

After that, I buffed finishing wax over the pirns as a top coat to protect the painted finish.

Last but not least, it was time to “cap off” my spindle ornaments. And to do so, I used ornament caps from vintage Christmas ornaments that had gotten broken!

And if you don’t have any broken ornaments, grab a box of cheap ornaments from the thrift store and use the ornament caps from those!

To attach the ornament caps to the weaving bobbins, I added some super glue in the top hole and pinched the ornament caps in the holes.

Lastly, I propped up the bobbins in antique bottles so the super glue could dry right-side-up.

Weaving Bobbins as Spindle Ornaments

Once everything dried, I had three spindle ornaments from my weaving bobbins. I just LOVE how they turned out!

They look even better hanging on the tree, don’t they?

I’ve had fun turning these vintage bobbins into DIY Christmas ornaments. But other small wooden spindles or even finials would work as well. In fact, there are probably endless possibilities for creating Christmas ornaments from upcycled, unexpected vintage elements like these!

This idea for spindle ornaments may be of interest to you, as well! Can you believe they came from a coffee mug tree?

Craft on!

S

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