I have made several of the hen or chicken pincushions and use mine regularly. I filled them with rice. It gives it enough weight so that it is sturdy and is much easier to fill than sand.

sewbeeit42

Better be careful we might want you to shear one and send us all a fistful of raw wool to stuff pincushions. :lol: what do you think about that?[/quote]

They are Mother-In-Law and GrandMother-In-Law's sheep....
I was going to steal it....
I wonder if they'd notice the sheep were going bald..???................

Great idea about using wool. I'll have to go check the barn and see if we sold everything last spring. With a last name of Woolley of course we raise sheep.

I am wondering how to clean it bc it has hay and everything else in it...

I'd pick out the big pieces, then wash the wool in warm water with some Orvis soap or Ivory dish soap. This will get the dirt as well as some of the lanolin. It's what we use to get show animals clean. Rinse well and let dry. You can put it in a tied pillow case and spin it in the washing machine to get extra water out. Card it to get the foreign material out. The carded wool is a roving and then needle felt it. Not all wool is used for yarn and handcrafts. Different breeds of sheep will give you different types of fiber and your results may vary with what you're doing.

Took a class years ago with a darling older woman and she made pincushions with the raw wool. She said the lanolin kept the needles and pins from rusting. I now make my pincushions with raw wool.

I use sawdust. It too sharpens your pins.

Are there pictures any where of these pin cushions? I'd like to see some,

Rebecca, go to the first page, June posted a link

PLEASE NOTE: THE LINK I POSTED IS NO LONGER WORKING.

June