Pins- Is it just me?
 

I am looking for a better method of holding pins while I pin my quilt to the frame. I have the standard tomato pincushion which works great but doesn't hold nearly enough pins so I end up getting them out of the box the pins came in. My issue is that it drives me batty doing this because the pins are not all in the same direction so I get stuck at least once! Crazy I know haha. I would take the time to sort them but I know I could not put the lid back on the box if I did. I have thought about some of the magnetic ones but don't know if they would hold enough pins in the same direction. I promise this is not a gag post. I'm seriously looking for ideas. Anyone else bothered by this?

Make a bigger pincushion to suit your needs? I made a flat topped one about 4" square. I stuffed it with scrap fabric and batting with a bunch of rice poured in for weight. It's ugly and wonky but it works far better for me than the little plastic container the pins come in. Saves me a lot of fumbling.
Rodney

Several ideas. 1 - switch to Red Snappers and save yourself the aggravation of pins and getting stuck. 2 - get a second, third, and fourth pincushion - as many as needed. 3 - get a larger pincushion. I have one of these that I just love, but I use the pins for piecing, not for pinning the quilt to the frame - http://www.ewesful.com/ewesful.html


Oh yes, the magnetic ones will hold the pins in the same direction if you're very careful, and if you don't overload them with pins, and if the pins themselves don't get magnetized. Then it creates a mess.

Well, I keep mine in my tall empty pill containers, but I get stuck like you do. I don't have a good answer tho'. Just have to "grin and bear it".

The magnetic pin holders never worked well for me. They would spill all the pins all over the place. I would make a larger pin cushion that's large enough to hold all your pins, or hand baste the quilt on the frame.

I went to Harbor Freight and got some 6" magnetic parts bowls. We keep straight pins in one, quilters' safety pins in another. They hold quite a few pins and they stay where I place them. I put the straight pins in the bowl with the sharp end at the center and it works great. The safety pins are still a mess and I do get stuck from time to time.

I made a magnetic wrist cushion. I just threw it together, not pretty but it works. I find that it makes a lot of difference when pinning the quilt parts to the frame. Much easier!

I have this pin cushion too and love it!!! Holds a lot of pins and stays put!

Mary, that's a great idea! I'm going to have to make a wrist pin holder for myself. Thanks for suggesting it.

Mary does the magnet help with arthritis etc. like a magnet bra let which I wore until the elastic broke, I used it for picking pins up off the floor and as you are only problem was pins stuck in me yours much better.

Here's what I use, you can get them at Harbor freight, or any auto and hardware store. $3 bucks is what I paid for mine. I don't arrange the pins like this, they do it all on their own. I love it!

I make pin cushions rings that I wear when doing any pinning. I'll post a ppic after I get some coffee. ;)

i used velcro to attach my leaders to the poles. my fabric store carried the sticky backed heavy duty kind to just stick it to the poles. and i just sewed the quilt to the leaders with a large stitch so a good tug separated it when done.

Here's a couple pictures of the ring cushions I make. I use them all of the time. The first picture shows how I spin it when I am pinning to my frame. Super handy. :)

i do the same as leather flea but i sure like mary's idea

I used to make ring cushions using the plastic pull rings from orange juice cartons. I called them Knucklepinnies and I sent them to several quilters in the old quilt.com bulletin board community. Seems as though those things are smaller now, though, so they don't work. I should make them from elastic - looks as though you did, Knismith. They were handy.

I have one of those big fat wool pin cushions I bought at a QS. I love it!

I use red snappers. I am so glad not to be using pins any more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdESb8_p5ec

I have a magnetic wrist pincushion I use, and another magnetic one which sits on a nearby surface. I suggest you buy some Leadergrips, as I did. They are great and I have no regrets at all. But before I bought my Leadergrips, I pinned using flat head flower pins so the point of one pin was covered by the head of the next. You rarely get stuck that way.

leatheflea .....i was there thursday they are on sale for $.99....score bought one for all the girls in the sewing group

Awesome idea Mary I think I will make myself one of those perfect for all sewing!!! I now use red snappers and do not pin to the frame anymore.

Harbor freight
 

Thanks Leatherflea I just ordered one of the 6 inch parts holders. Your pictures sold me on it haha.

Your all very welcome! It made my day that you were impressed and helped. Hope you like it as much as I do!

This may be overkill, but I have a small pillow insert that I've covered with flannel, and I use that for a pin cushion when I need a lot of pins. It's flat, so it sits almost anywhere, and I put a loop on I can also choose to hang it from something. I kept tipping over the plastic boxes with the pins in, and that made quite a mess to clean up. That's when I made my "pillow pincushion." Love it!

Years ago, my DMIL gave me a mechanic's magnetic flat 8" square for my pins. She also gave me a magnetic wrist pin holder that closes w/velcro. She was way ahead of the rest of us.

[QUOTE=MaryStoaks;6468105]I made a magnetic wrist cushion. I just threw it together, not pretty but it works. I find that it makes a lot of difference when pinning the quilt parts to the frame. Much easier![/QU

I love your idea. Am I correct in assuming that you use Velcro to hold it on your wrist? I think I could do something like that. Also, I totally envy your hands and your straight fingers. Mine are all catty-whompus, arthritis, but I am still sewing.

Edie

[QUOTE=Edie;6470144] Yes, velcroe closure. It's just a tube with the 2" magnet sewn in and vlcroe on the back.

One of my favorite sewing friends had a large pincushion made from a stuffed sock and tied in a knot. It wasn't very pretty but sure held a ton of pins!

The comments about wrist pin cushions made me smile. All of you who successfully use them have my awe and respect. When I have tried to use wrist pin cushions, I kept stabbing myself in the wrist. I finally decided I was sewing, pinning, whatever and not looking at where the pins were headed and the chances that I would ever look were between slim and nil.

So, keeping my pins in order was finally solved by a huge, round pin cushion my mother made for her mother-in-law before i was born. It is very tightly filled with hair and metal shavings and covered by a piece of upholstery fabric.

Bottom line: keep trying until you find what works for you. And to those of you who are like me and do the stab yourself trick, well, if it is any consolation, you are not alone.

Happy holidays!

Pat

I made myself a hand pincushion - similar to a wrist pincushion but it fits around my hand rather than on my wrist - the pins seem easier to access for me - it is a long (covers almost the width of my hand - firmly stuffed pincushion with "casing" - just an extra flap of material on the bottom - ran a piece of wide elastic measured to fit my hand through it & sewed the elastic ends together. Not my idea - I took a tailoring class at least 40 years ago & the instructor showed us this idea. For me it is much ore convenient than the one on the wrist. I use this for straight pins - safety pings I just dump in a pile - lol. I use leaders on my (hand) quilting frame & baste the quilt to the leaders

I use a flat (about 2 inch thick) piece of Styrofoam about 12 inches long. It holds a lot of pins for pinning on my longarm. I was having problems with pins too and one day I was unpacking something and saw a nice piece of Styrofoam. So I've used it ever since. Well I have replaced it from time to time. When I unpack things I keep the pieces that I think I'll use and when they are heavily worn just toss it and have a new one.

I put pins all along the leaders on the frame so they are right at hand.

Love my wrist pin cushion!!!!!!

Like mentioned above I also stuck myself when using the small wrist pin cushion. So I took one of the large tomato pin cushions, attached some wide elastic to it and use in on my hand. It's really handy and holds a ton of pins.

I don't know if this would help pinning to a frame since I don't use one, but here is the pincushion I made after years of lousy store bought ones, a few awful ones I made, I hit on the idea of making one out of wool. I started with a 14 inch circle of wool, some raw wool I got from a kind member of the board, and some sand that I sewed into a double layered bag for the bottom. I hand sewed a running stitch around the outside of the circle, put the sand bag inside, added enough wool to stuff it, and drew the thread up tight. I put a big yoyo on the top, that I stitched down very securely, and put a button on top and stitched it through to the bottom so the bottom would be flat. I Love it, and no dull pins! The finished pin cushion is 6 inches across and about three inches deep, and can double as a pattern weight.

I like this larger size since I always use extra long pins for everything.

Use more than one pin cushion.

I found some things around the house that could be used and made 2 pin cushions. The smaller one (cut glass jar without a top) sits at my sewing machine for a quick pin. The larger one (Hand painted hanging pot for a plant but never could bring myself to put dirt in it) sits where I pin my quilts (when not using safety pins) and holds enough for me to do a quilt.

I put some batting scraps inside a piece of material and pinned it at the bottom. Works great for me. :-)

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