This is just something I thought was funny enough to share with everyone. My grandmother was a seamstress probably her entire adult life and I inherited all her sewing things, including a large pin cushion. I'm not sure how old it is, but it's the one I've always remembered her having.
I emptied it of pins today and then was squishing it in my hand when I felt a prick so I prodded until I found the hidden needle and pulled it out. So then I started to wonder how many more were there. I prodded, poked, and was pricked, but I ended up finding 18 needles of various sizes and rust conditions with a Varity of different size eyes ranging from very small to larger than I'd buy one with.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v354/Mekehlee/DSC00026.jpg)
The one I find most interesting is the one second from the right. It's not round, but is triangular. No idea what that's for.
Ever wonder how many needles your pin cushion has consumed? Gluttonous little thing isn't it?
This thread mentions triangular needles being a glover's needle - for making holes in fine glove leather...
http://www.renaissancefestival.com/forums/index.php?topic=4197.0 (http://www.renaissancefestival.com/forums/index.php?topic=4197.0)
I actually don't have a pincushion - I probably should, but I just keep them in the box they came in, inside of a ziplock bag. When I need to re-thread a needle, I usually just poke it into my pantleg, or shirtsleeve, or whatever I'm sewing
My grandmother's pincushion was the same way. I won't even mention the carpet at her old home. She used to pay me to pick up pins when I was little. I could never get them all, as she used the straight pins with the tiny heads, no colored ends for her!
We buried her with a needle pinned to her lapel, as she was never without needle and thread, usually just "pinned" through on the front of her blouse or dress.
The triangular needles are usually used for heavier sewing, some of the leather needles are triangular.
Capt. Marga
Quote from: captmarga on October 23, 2008, 08:08:24 PM
We buried her with a needle pinned to her lapel, as she was never without needle and thread, usually just "pinned" through on the front of her blouse or dress.
That's a really sweet thing.. It's pretty bad when I get to sewing at my boyfriends house.. I always get distracted or diverted midway through so pins fall when i get up to do something... not to mention i have the worst set up ever there.. I go around with a magnet afterwards. and sometimes that helps... My mom has this old wand thing that they used to use on the bingo chips when you use those clear plastic markers with the metal on the edges...
It seems I am always sewing under a lamp - old eyes need lots of light - & I just tuck the needles into the shade when I'm through for the day. Straight pins go back in the box or a spice bottle.
I have my grandmother's pin cushion. It is a largish bird cut from a piece of wood on a base. The wings are pin cushions & the beak is the scissors. It is one of my most cherished possessions.
Quote from: captmarga on October 23, 2008, 08:08:24 PM
My grandmother's pincushion was the same way. I won't even mention the carpet at her old home.
My grandma's, too! She would never let us go barefoot at her house because of all the dropped pins. Here I try to be super careful about them, because most of my family is barefoot all the time (the four furry footed kind :)).
I kept looking and by the time I finally gave up I pulled a total of 44 needles from the pin cushion.
I loved hearing everyone's stories about their own grandmother's pin cushions though or similar experiences. Makes me miss her, but also reminds me of fond memories around her sewing machine.
And thanks for the information on the triangle needle, unfortunately it's far too rusted for future use. Would have been a neat one to have on hand though.
Whoa, that's a lot of needles!
Sounds like the only thing keeping cushion puffy were its ingested needles!
My granma does not sew at all but my great granma was a wiz! I was to little to learn any thing from her before she died but my mom got her old sewing machine and all her sewing stuff.. I am afraid to sew on Gramys machine in case I do something to it but I have snagged a few of the pins from her pin cushion..
It always seems if I use her pins what ever I am working on goes better if Gramys pins on it..
That's funny, that your stuff does better with Grammy's pins. If I sew past 10 pm at night, my (long passed) mammaw makes my sewing machine foul. Period. I can turn it on and sew ONE straight seam - at 10:01 - I had better be DONE. Doesn't matter if I've sewn for one hour or one minute. I find it frustrating and amusing. 1) she sewed til all hours of the night. 2) anyone else can sit down at the machine that has just (insert whatever - fouled the thread, broken the thread, fouled the bobbin and bunched up a knot on the underside, overlapped and sewed two pieces wrong, broken a needle, etc) and it will sew just perfectly fine for them...
It's my Grandmother Curse.
Capt Marga
My house is so covered in needles I always find it interesting where I end up finding them sometimes. I found one once on the toilet seat in my bathroom, another time in my garage in the carpet, tons in the kitchen rug, and soooooo many in my couches there should be CAUTION signs all over them!!! I think my couch is closer to a PIN CUSHION than anything!! I have 2 kitties who think it's "fun" to knock over my containers of pins.... I have the kind with snap on lids, but some tired nights I might end up leaving it open and they will inevitably get spilt ON the couch.... I have a wand, but I don't think the magnet is strong enough to get them ALL out... I think it would take an industrial strength magnet to get them all out of my couches, and even then, there are so many there it might end up taking the whole dang couch with it!!!