No more homemade Pinmoors for me!
 

I've given up on my homemade "Pinmoors" and switched to the real deal. I was using the "backer rod" version and they mostly worked, but as I was quilting they'd either slide off or the pin would poke all the way through so I was still getting jabbed all the time.

So I broke down and bought a set of real Pinmoors, and tried them out...and immediately ordered more! The real deal really does work so much better. I can handle my quilt any way I want and they stay firmly affixed to the pins and the pins never poke all the way through...no more "viper bites"!

I've made two whole quilts now where I didn't bleed a single time! Yay!

I wanted to see if the concept of pinmoors works for me so I bought a pack of disposable ear plugs. I agree with you - substitutes work to a point, but the real ones are made for that purpose and should be better.

I use them instead of safety pins when sandwiching my quilt. Love them!

I have posted many times how the Pinmoors works so much better then any of the make do items. They are self healing and a one time buy.

I noticed my $ srore erasers never worked as well so I threw them away. I will try the real Pinmoores now:)

Never having tried the real Pinmoors, I can't make a comparison, but I am having great luck with a $2.00 package of foam beads I purchased at Big Lots. Yes, if I push hard enough the pin will go all the way through, but won't that also happen to Pinmoors or do they have a hard stop on one end? When I see Leah Day use hers, it doesn't seem as though she has to look for only one end to stick them in. I just FMQ a quilt using my homemade ones and it worked great. They stuck on the pins really well, but it didn't take too much of a tug to remove them. And I love the fun colours! I too didn't have much success with the erasers -- they were hard to get the pin in but slid off while I worked. These foam beads are softer but seem to grip the pin better.

There is no right or wrong end to the Pinmoors. Each one is like a solid tube.