I could not start writing this post fast enough when I saw this adorable DIY sewing-themed chess set from Stash Books. The chessboard is a small quilt, and all the pieces are made of various sewing-related items put together to represent various chess pieces. The pawns are bobbins on blocks, the knights are teeny scissors inside spools, and the King and Queen are spools + blocks, with thimbles on top. I LOVE it! [how to make the sewing themed chess set]

The items that Sue used to design this chess board weren’t from the dollar store, but you could definitely find some suitable items at the dollar store. They have travel sewing kits that contain tiny spools of thread and mini scissors. You can sometimes find thread, blocks in the toy section, and tomato-shaped pincushions. You could definitely improvise your way to an awesome chess set using this one as an inspiration. Use stash fabric to sew the board, or how about Mod Podge-ing some decorative paper to an old checkerboard you find at the thrift store?

You can also find a variety of wooden items to build the set with over at Casey’s Wood. They have spools, cubes, wooden thimbles, egg stands (for the bishop), and any other wooden piece you can imagine.

Project Estimate:

Package of wooden blocks, $1

8 spools, about $5

Various wooden pieces, $5-10

Stash fabric, on hand

Craft paint, on hand or about $.50 per color

Stash scrapbooking paper or $1

Total: $11 and up

p.s. this is just a guess at cost because what you have on hand and what you decide to use to make the set will vary. I encourage you to work from your stash whenever you can! Use it up.