QueenBarbieJ ... for small pincushions, I have sometimes just chopped up (with a rotary cutter)
batting scraps and then stuffed the pinnie.

I don't like sand, for fear of the dust trail it can leave.
My Mom used to stuff her pin cushions with sawdust.



BearIG .... No DD about that ..... safety can never be over rated!
For sure it should be taken into consideration if someone who is allergic may be using it.

I bought some emery sand or grit. Seems like it was from ebay. The emery sharpens the needles and pins. I agree with the no food items. I've even had pins rust with the poly fill stuffing.

My son is allergic to wa Walnuts so we filled my pin cushions outside just to be safe. If someone has a tree nut allergy I would avoid them.

I would not use rice or any food items which would get bugs eventually. Rice inside the pincushion would also get mold on it if it ever got wet. I plan to use walnut shells in mine, maybe with some wool in there, too.

I have a question about the ground walnut shells. Does anyone else find that their pins are not "slick" when they've been in the cushion? Mine seem to have a film on them that keeps them from gliding smoothly into the fabric. When I wipe them off, they go in fine though.

My daughter is allergic to nuts so there's no way I'd take a chance on walnut shells. She had a full body hives reaction just from standing near a booth where nuts were being roasted. She was on 3 different meds for a week and it took 6 days before the hives stopped. I quit doing all swaps because of this trend of putting walnut shells in pincushions-I couldn't take the chance that I would get something that had been pinned by pins that were in walnut shells. Also, they are like wood so I can't imagine how they wouldn't dull needles.

Aren’t the pellets also used in weighted blankets so they should be able to add some weight if mixed with stuffing of easy sort?

I've used poly pellets with great success. no problems ever.

I like sand or poly-stuffing :o

I've used rice with no problems, yet.