I was reading another thread and someone mentioned their pins were hard to "put thru the fabric". I was taught a hint when my daughter was in cloth diapers (yes, a 100 yrs ago). If the pins are "sticky" or hard to push thru, run the pin in your hair!!! No, don't stick yourself, slide the pin away from your head. The oils in your hair will give it enough lubrication to slide easily. I find that's easier than a bar of soap....the soap is always WAAAAY over there somewhere. :-D

This is true. It really does work.

Thanks for the great hint.

Yep and I have done it... works wonderful :thumbup:

Nice tip - never heard of it before.

Great tip :D:D:D

I've also heard a hint about hair - that human hair is one of the best things to have for a pin cushion. Keeps the pins sharp and they won't rust....Nope, haven't tried it!

I would be afraid the pin would get stuck in my curly hair and never be found again. LOL
I heard of this years ago but forgot about it too. Thanks for the reminder.

Do you mean I need to collect my hair for stuffing? Ick!

You wash your hair, don't you????? Just think, our forefathers (foremothers???) used to collect horse hair for home decor -- stuffing chairs, making pictures......LOL

I used to do this for my boys when they were in nappies, and now will apply it to my quilting.

Thanks for the memory jolt.

Here's a thought - collect the hair that's in hairbrushes and wash and dry it then stuff your pincushion. Are you gagging yet?? LOL

Ick! Ick! Ick!

My hair sheds off me in such quantity it wouldn't take long to stuff something but I HATE picking it out of the drain, sweeping it off the floor, plucking it off upholstery and brushing it from my clothes.

And - it's on my head when I wash it. A totally different process. Imagine, all that hair laid out to dry........ICK.

I have lots of deer hair around the yard, wonder how it would work to stuff things.

I had never heard of this. I'm going to try it though. Great tip.

in the "olden days" everyone had a hair receiver on their dresser. Usually a pretty china box with a hole in the top where they would clean out combs and brushes and deposit it in the hair receiver for future use.

Great idea! When I was a teen, I had hair to my knees. I had headaches all the time and my Dr. said it was due to my long, thick, hair. I finally got the nerve up to cut it to my shoulders a few weeks later (it was a relief). As I sat in the salon chair, a little old lady came in with a bag and asked if she could have my hair. I thought ick! why?, but I said to take it all. I didn't care. She wanted it to stuff pillows! I thought that was so strange! and gross!

You say ICK to your own hair but would keep deer hair??? Are you kidding??? Deer hair might have ticks!!!!!!!!!! DOUBLE ICK!!!!

I have a human hair pincushion! Not my own hair, this is one that was in with my mother's things...red fabric with a little band of elastic...the only way I knew what it was is that there's a few worn spots and you can see the hair inside.

WOW! I just love these old fashioned, tried and tested solutions that seem to have fallen by the wayside over the years!!

HAHAHAHA!! What an awesome idea!! I agree. It would have seemed gross to a 15 year old!!

I can remember my Grandmother telling me that she used to coil the hair from her brush or comb and put it in a small silver box on her dresser...altho she never said what she did with it :(

"Ladies" used to keep their lost long hairs neatly coiled for future use ON THEIR OWN HEADS!!!! The first time I read about that I nearly gagged. Yes, as their hair began to turn gray or thin their ladies maid would work the saved hair into their "do" so that the hair appeared darker and fuller. When the do was taken down that loose hair had to be combed and re-wound. YUK!

It also used to be tightly coiled into flowers for jewelry and pictures. Sometimes a "dearly departed" ones hair was made into a broach for the grieving to wear as part of their year of mourning and sometimes even longer as a rememberance. Those things are quite valuable today to some collectors. (not me)

Wool is great as it has Lanalin (SP) in it, good old fashioned wool fat, which stops rust in pins also I have heard that a tiny bit of talc in the pin tin keeps pins from going rusty.
Gal

One of the many things my grandmna had that I found so very pretty was a flower picture made of human hair. It was beautiful, and she and my G-grand made it, Mom even pointed out to mre the flower that was her hair. I wanted that picture so badly when she died, but a very greedy aunt took it for herself and then hid it behind a sofa once when I went to visit. I never cared for her after that, and then many many years later, when I asked about it, she had given it to her grand-daughter. That grand daughter never even knew my gramma! But the sunt said that she was very artistic and she would take goodf care of it. Like I wouldn"t have!! This same aunt is the one who hid all the 13 quilts that granma had made for her g-kids and never used. We were to get them when she died. "Dear aunt " knew nothing about any quilts like that, then sold them all at auction when she was moving into her daughters home. Even her daughter knew about them and didn'T get one! Those quilts sold for over $400 each and that was in the mid's. I felt nothing but hate for that aunt after that!!

I remember that time from when I watched my mother sew! Had forgotten about it. And it wasn't 100 yrs ago for cloth diapers - both my kids were in cloth diapers. Only used the disposable ones when we took long trips.

You can use bees wax, pafrin wax or vasiline. I like the bees wax the best. I have also gotten a bad box of pins that the points of the pins are dull and won't go thru the fabric.

OMgosh...I have a dresser set that was my grandmother's - a brush, comb, hand mirror, and a lidded box with a hole in the top. The set is beautiful, with mother of pearl. I have ALWAYS wondered why the container had the hole in the top! It never ceases to amaze me what I learn on this board :D

This hint shows our true age, doesn't it? I had to use cloth diapers with my last son and remember changing cloth diapers on my younger siblings, lol!!!

I just remembered.....my 6th grade school teacher (okay - back in '62) said they used to save hair and then use it to POOF up their hair. Kinda like the way we used to rat our hair. It gave the hair heighth.....think Gibson Girls

wow never thought of that! Thx!

It amazes me what people can think of doing with just about anything imaginable. I have seen hair pictures & think of all the time & talent that goes into them. Not sure it would be my talent.

This hint made me remember that when my mum was knitting she use to push sticking knitting needles through her hair. I never thought to do this with pins but will definitely try this out. Thanks for the tip.

Jannie, Since you live in San JOse and the girl that got gramma's hair flower picture lives in San Francisco, maybe you saw granmas'

I've seen many of those hair "pictures" in museums. One in particular I remember was made into probably a dozen different flowers and those were intermingled to make a wreath. FANTASTIC piece of work. And I, in no way, have the patience for that!

My mother always kept her "combings" and used them in pin cushions. She had a special box with a hole in the lid to put them through. Also, I have seen her rub other things on her hair to get them to work. I think the most often was the back of a spoon when she was rubbing it across a paper for the embossing of the underlying object to show. Before printers and copymachines, this was a way to get your pattern.

I have a hair receiver - antique - and the covered pin dish that goes with it. They used the hair for mourning jewelry mainly. They would braid or use some kind of a weaving process for the hair. I used to have a watch fob made out of hair. Actually, I have a locket with some of my husband's hair in it. Oh, yah, they used to make pictures, beautiful pictures out of hair, sewing it with a needle. Thank you Victoriana! Edie

Running pins thru hair to help them penetrate the cloth? Saw mom do that, so I did it too. 1st time my dh saw me do that he thought I was a bit touched. LOL Maybe I am, but still do it when pinning a quilt.

I have been using this for a long time. I never thought of making a pin cushion though. Oh well I would probably lose it anyway. My hair is on my head and most times I know where that is.

Grandma taught me this trick when I was 5.... many, many years ago !! I use the curved basting pins and this works every time on stubborn ones...
Happy Quilting! I'm off to the Guild meeting this afternoon.

What use would that be???? :?: