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It will also rust over time.
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I have a couple of pincushions that I made as a kid using hair from my head, my Mom's and Grandmother's -- they are wonderful for keeping needles happy and sewing. I remember a 7th grade sewing project that required us to do this, though I had made several before that. I always keep a bar of ivory in the sewing room to put the needles in to make them glide -- never thought about wrapping them in fabric but given the state of the paper wrapper, I think I will.
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Originally Posted by mckwilter
(Post 6203331)
The crushed walnut shells, though not as fine as emery, are used for basically the same thing, to smooth off little burrs from your pins and needles. You can find it at any pet store. I also make pincushions from bars of soap. Leave the paper wrapper on, then cut strips of fabric that are as wide as the widest point of the bar. Then wrap the strips around a couple times covering both the sides and the ends and tie with a pretty bow on the top. Pins and needles glide through fabric. I prefer the flat bars of soap, like Ivory or Dial and not the curved ones like Dove. Or if you have a soap that has a favorite fragrance, that works, too. As the pins and needles go into the soap, it will gradually break the bar into little pieces, but that takes a while.
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Steel wool rusts, especially in damp climates. In the olden days, the tomato pincushions came with a little strawberry that contained emery powder to sharpen and clean your needles.
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Alyce beat me to it... I was sure I was not the only one on this board who used soap bars to sharpen the sticky diaper pins. Never thought of using them for sewing pins. Think I'll give it a try.
Linda in Missouri |
Originally Posted by seasaw2mch
(Post 6203187)
I start working on a quilt that will be all hand sewn and it's unbelievable how much my mind wanders on things while I'm doing this.
So while sewing today it dawned on me how all the pincushions today are made from all sorts of things, like batting, walnut shells, straw and all the many other things that go into them. What is so strange is that over the many years (about 50) that I've been sewing, I have always hear that if your sewing needle gets a little dull you can poke it into a wad of extra fine steel wool and it will sharpen it. SO that got me to thinking. Why aren't they made with the steel wool in them so you will be sharpening the needles every time you stick it in the pincushion? I'm think about making one stuffed with the extra fine steel wool and see how it works out. What's you thought on the subject? |
Running a needle or pin though your hair on the scalp will let the needle glide through fabric. I remember my mother and aunts always pulling the big diaper pins through their hair before pinning a diaper.
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Originally Posted by BellaBoo
(Post 6203914)
Running a needle or pin though your hair on the scalp will let the needle glide through fabric. I remember my mother and aunts always pulling the big diaper pins through their hair before pinning a diaper.
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I'm glad you all responded because it gave me more ways to try my little experiment. I did not think about the steel wool rusting and since it's humid here, I'm think now it's a bad idea. I might see what I can find out about the emery powder and the soap bars were my grandma's favorite come to think about it. I also used them when I did wood working to keep my saw blades from rusting and it helped them glide through the wood a lot easier. I have never used wool before but maybe I'll have to check into them as well. Do you any type of wool for that? or is there a specific type I should try?
Oh the memories! Thanks everyone for your input. |
Originally Posted by seasaw2mch
(Post 6203939)
My mom had 14 of us and she told me about running the pins through my hair for the diaper pins but I must be a klutz because I kept sticking myself in the head. LOL
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