My modern guild loves dirty Santa games and loves pincushions, so a recent challenge involved making a pincushion to swap. I found a nice cup and saucer at a thrift store and decided to make that into a pincushion.
I previously researched tutorials for making pincushions and learned that ground English walnut shells are one of the best types of stuffing for them. The shells are heavy (dense) enough to keep the pincushion from coming up with the pin you are trying to remove from it, and they are ground fine enough to allow pins to be stuck in easily. Ground walnut shells are available in pet stores, where folks apparently think I want them for my pet lizard to use as desert sand. (They’re mistaken about that, but I bought the ground walnut shells anyway.)
The problem was how to get the walnut shells firmly packed into a nice round ball that would fit smoothly into the cup. I solved that problem by rescuing a discarded athletic sock from the trash, which is why there’s a sock in the picture of the cup above!
I cut off the toe of the sock, stuffed it with ground walnut shells, and closed it tightly with a rubber band.
I patted the filled sock into shape so that it fit nicely in the cup.
Then I cut a circle of fabric and gathered the edge with a long machine stitch.
After drawing up the edge of the circle as much as I could around the base of the sock, I finished drawing it tight by adding another rubber band.
And before you ask, the size of the circle was a guess–I just used the largest circle on my circle cutting template.
Finally, I stuffed the whole thing into the cup, rubber band side down. It was heavy enough and fit tightly enough that it did not need to be glued in. I did glue the cup to the saucer, however.
And that was it! So easy and so fun!
What a great idea! It’s on my To-Do List.
So family members should keep a close eye on their socks 😉
My husband is already missing a few pair!😜
Great idea!
Oh it’s so pretty and ingenious! I never would have known to use walnut shells, so thank you for the idea. I think your pet lizard will love it 😉
Now I wish I had a pet lizard 😀
Ha! 😃
I always thought pin cushions helped sharpen the points of the pins/needles…are walnut shells good for that, too?
I do like your artsy yet functional pin cushion – looks like something easily made as a special gift.
(pet lizard not included)
😉
I think the strawberry on the traditional tomato pin cushion is supposed to contain something like the grit that comes on Emory boards, and is supposed to sharpen or, more likely, remove rust from pins and needles in the old days. I don’t think walnut shells will do that, but not sure! Now you have me wondering what Emory boards are made of…
The old sock is a brilliant idea (be sure to launder first, ha!) 🙂
Oops, I just took that sock out of the trash 😁