Poof Pin Cushion
 

Has anyone re-made the small poof pin cushion that came attached to the old wood bases? Mine was hard as a rock and the velvet was pulling out from the side.

I have a scrap of velvet and some sawdust and am planning to re-do it.

I haven't, but I really want to see the rest of your cabinet/case.
Rodney

Most pin cushions I see being made are stuffed with ground walnut shells. I would make a small pouch out of muslin to stuff with your filler and cover that with the velvet.

Cari

Cari, That's what I was thinking too. I haven't got it all back together. I am waiting on some wood filler. I wonder if this little spot was ever really meant as a pin cushion? When I tried to remake it, I had to keep making it smaller and smaller. I am sure it could only take a few pins at best. I'll come back and put in a photo once I get it back together.

Rodney, I can only wish I had the cabinet! The base goes with the Pfaff 11 hand crank I bought awhile back. The base has holes for a treadle belt so would have gone with a table at some point in it's life. When it came to me it was in rough shape with broken and lifting veener. Also very dry wood with the back corner broken out. I've been working on it for awhile,re-glueing, patching rough spots to smooth it out, stain and shellac. I should be able to finish it up soon. Here it is when I first got it.

My vote is for the ground walnut shells called lizard litter. I used it for some small chicken pincushions and found that I spilled less litter by using a medium size funnel with about an inch of the spout cut off. Do the filling in a dishpan to catch the spills. Around here a pin or needle pulled out of regular stuffing after a year will have rust. I had read that aluminum oxide grindings are what was used in pincushions to keep needles sharp, but I gave up after learning that I had to buy a 5 gal bucket.

Here is the finished version. I still will need to shorten a couple of the legs a bit since time has warped the base and it rocks. The pin cushion is so small I used sawdust because it only took about a teaspoon. I kept having to make it smaller and smaller to mimic the original. The fabric was a scrap I happened to have on hand.

I use one of the jumbo yo yo makers, pull it almost tight and fill it up. I've made some out of the tiny jelly jars to carry to class. I can keep extra pins in the jar, or buttons, or bobbins.

Nice job, that base looks really good, so does the pin cushion.

Cari

Thanks Cari. It's about the best I can do with it. It was in pretty awful condition and I want to preserve it as best I can. I don't love adding wood filler and it never does take a stain well, but you can't sew on something with torn rough edges.