Pincushion fillings

Pincushions are marvelous things. I love being able to pull a pin by the head from a cushion and not get impaled by the points of the ones in the box that point the other way!

Pincushions are great gifts, work up quickly and are nice little showplaces for small bits of needlework.

So, what do you stuff ’em with?

If you use fiberfill they’re too light. They’ll sometimes jump away from a pin. You can fasten one down into a tin or a basket or maybe add a magnet to hold it to a steel surface, or you can weight them some other way, maybe a large rock in the bottom or a metal plate, and then stuff the top, but then the other problem comes in, fiberfill isn’t really tough enough to hold a pin. These make great things to add to tools to keep them from diving down into a workbasket. I have them attached to scissors since they “float” on top of whatever else is in the basket and I can fish the scissors out when I need them…but that’s not a pincushion….

Many cushions have been made of hair, usually horsehair, but human hair works, as well, or wool or even cotton fiber. These poof out the cushion very well and wool with the lanolin left in (or added….) will keep pins and needles from rusting. Cotton fiber will also wick away moisture. Unless weighted, these can roll away.

Many cushions are stuffed with sawdust or
fabric scraps. These are usually heavy enough to hold a pin, but might let things rust, although they will stay put.

I’ve been using a filling in most of my cushions of sand and cedar sawdust mixed. It smells good and living by the ocean, goodness knows that sand is easy to come by! This is the stuff that I filled the biscornu (pic above) with. It settles well and is heavy enough to hold the cushion in place, although I admit to having Sash “hack” the biscornu to settle the stuff!

Emery powder is crushed carborundum (aluminum oxide) It’s the stuff that the little strawberries that are attached to pin tomatoes are filled with. It is an abrasive that will help keep pins and needles sharp and oil & goop free.  Our hands have acids and oils in them naturally and those

will degrade the metals of needles, causing them to get rough and to pull on fibers instead of gliding smoothly through. Emery will prevent this, and the fabrics that the cushion or strawberry is made of, act to pull off the oils, as well. The problem with a whole cushion of this stuff is that it is too much of a good thing. They’re heavy and they will wear down pins and needles that
are left in them, so it’s best to have an emery cushion for cleaning and a different fill for storage. Wiki has a good article on emery. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emery_%28mineral%29

Garnet sand is another possibility. This purple variety is mined in Idaho. I mix it 1/2 and 1/2 by weight with cedar sawdust for use.

I have packets of this that I sell by the ounce and also packets of the beach sand and sawdust mix. I’m working on getting more cedar sawdust in….

Another consideration if you’re trying to make pretty pincushions is that all of these materials will “walk” through the coarser fabrics that we use for embroidery. You can see why in the picture on the left. The left-most fabric is an old cotton percale sheet….cheap percale, maybe 200 count, but it’s a lot finer than the flannel at the top right, or the Aida at the bottom right. Make a lining for your pincushion of the sheet fabric to keep your fill where you want it! Right at the moment I’m wishing that I had made an inner-lining for the red & green cushion. Even made of a decent calico, it puffs dust when I move it, still!

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