This is a project that is long overdue for me! I’ve been working with a teeny pincushion for several years and I’ve been hankering after something more substantial for a while now. I use several different types of pins depending on the fabric I’m sewing and my teeny pumpkin cushion just wasn’t cutting the mustard anymore….they wouldn’t all fit for a start, and I’d end up trying to fish out my fine steel pins from between the big round heads of my quilting pins. Annoying!
You’ll need old jeans, rice, and ultra fine wire wool. I’d read somewhere that stuffing your pincushion with wire wool helps keep your pins sharp. The rice serves a dual purpose. It weights the pincushion down. But I was also concerned about the steel wool “rusting” over time. Rust is caused by metal + moisture. Rice absorbs moisture. So hopefully it will help keep the rust away!
Cut a rectangle twice as long as it is wide. Mine was 14″ x 7″. Cut a strip of fabric 1″ x 7″ for the tab. I zig zagged the edges of my tab strip to prevent fraying. Fray check or clear nail polish would also do. I didn’t want to rouleau it as I wanted a kind of scrappy denim effect but you could, if you wanted a cleaner finish…
Fold the tab strip end to end and stitch at a 45 degree angle to one corner or your rectangle…
Fold in half and stitch as shown. Along the top edge, then down the side, leaving about 3″ in the middle of that side seam for turning. Leave the bottom edge open. (Folded edge is on the right. I triple stitched all seams for strength). Trim all edges. Clip corners.
Now with that open bottom edge…close and stitch it so the bottom seam is at a 90 degree angle to the top edge (this creates the pyramid. You see what was the side seam with the opening, is now in the centre of the bottom edge)…
Turn through to the right side. Pyramid!
Put a generous amount of rice in for weight (I used half a cereal bowl for mine)
Then stuff with the finest grade wire wool you can get. Don’t get the coarse stuff…it’ll just make it lumpy! If it does get a bit lumpy, us a little wadding around the inside. Slip stitch the opening closed once it’s plump enough. (It needs to be pretty solid)
And there you go! Giant pyramid pincushion. Those yellow pins are quilting ones. Then I have glass headed standard pins and fine steel ones. Because my pyramid has 3 sides, (excluding the base. Obvs we all know a pyramid has 4 sides!) each type of pin has it’s own little place. So not only is there now room for them all, I don’t get them mixed up. One less thing to bug me!
Oh and to give you an idea of scale!
Wire wool makes sense and I totally get the thing about the pins being mixed up – it’s an obvious solution now that you’ve shown me. I may have to hasten the end of life for a pair of hubby’s jeans that are looking past their best. Makes sense too to include the rice. I might add some dried lavender to mine as well – I often need soothing when I’m sewing (or unpicking…).
Oooooh, lavender sounds like an awesome idea Vicky! Px
Woah! It IS giant. I’ve been wanting to make something like this for photographing my bibs for Etsy. I started one but it’s much more complicated than your explanation!! Thx for sharing!!
Wow, I need to get me some fine wire wool
Super fine! Between you and me I’m finding the rice side (ie technically the base) strangely satisfying to stick pins in 😉
Have always loved this shape and have made quite a few already, but I always fill mine with dried sand (but lavender mixed in is a GREAT idea). The sand sharpens the pins and an extra lining of the fabric with a very dense structure stop it from coming out and allows you to choose any fabric of your liking for the outside, or even an embroidered outer cover!
Sand and lavender sounds good!
Ground Walnut Shells are also supposed to be great for sharpening pins. 🙂
Oooh, like that! Thanks Laura!
Hello Portia, thank you for the tutorial of this genius idea! I have made a small one but I think it might be making my pins blunt rather than sharp. I used steel wool that looks like yours. I am not sure what to do about it… I guess the fire wood could be finer, could it be its quality? Finer is expensive. Did yours serve its sharpening purpose well? Could it be the layer of denim that ends up being too much to go through for the pins? I have only been using mine for barely an evening though! Any thoughts/advice welcomed! Thank you very much.
Made it, LOVE it!
Thanks Portia
Ah yay! You’re so welcome!
what a great idea!! I see a pin cushion one for each type of pin (Lots of types!) and triangular weights to hold my fabric down . Thank you so much, they’d make great gifts too!!
They would!
Oh my ! Why haven’t I thought of this 😮What a Great idea ! Go, Portia 😆 Thanks for sharing !
I think one without the wire wool would make a good pnone rest and a slightly larger one for a tablet stand.
Yes! Loads of possibilities to adapt!
What a great idea –
I’ve Always been looking for something to make using the offcuts of jeans that I take up !!
Being a shorty it’s quite wide – so brill – can’t wait to make this ..
I made one of these over a year ago and it is great! Has held up well and I keep it on my cutting table in a plastic bag as my cat, Lady Bleu, likes to pull the pins out.
Make one, or more. Good weight, you can separate your pins, easy to use, does NOT slide away. Make it, it is a great idea.
Thanks, Maggie.
i love the idea of it being so large, the denim…wouldn’t have thought of using it for a pin cushion…wonderful idea