Pin Cushions 3 -Photos

Today I have the latest photos on the pin cushions.  I have added threads in each of the indentations of the "petals".  At this point the threads are knotted in the center and look a little like the stamens of a flower.  I think I can do better than that, so there will be further embellishments as the project progresses.  I want to finish getting all of the pin cushions tied before I go on to the next step.

The knots in the center and threads in each indentation add visual interest, but they also have another function.  Pulling the threads to the pin cushions helps make the cushion a little more compact.  The pin cushions need to be very solidly stuffed if you want your pins to stay where you put them.    If the cushion is not firm enough it just does not feel right either.  It is hard to describe just how firm it needs to be, but you know it when you feel it.

Adding the threads has taken longer than I thought it would.  One set of three pin cushions took about two and a half hours to complete.  It also took a lot of hand strength and dexterity.  I work with my hands all the time, but my hands were sore after completing two sets in one day.  Not every body is going to make multiple sets of pin cushions, but if someone were contemplating making them as gifts, my advice would be to give yourself plenty of time.  When I add the five hours to tie the two sets of pin cushions to the nineteen hours to get them up to that point, I am now twenty-four hours in on this project and I still have another five hours ago to tie up the other two sets of cushions.  There is further embellishment to come after that; which has not been started yet.  Even simple things can be surprisingly time involved.

The pin cushions come in three sizes.  My assessment of them is the large size is somewhat larger than many people would want to carry around with them.  The medium size is the one I am most likely to use on a regular basis.  The small pin cushion is a little small to be practical in most situations.  However, the small pin cushion looks to be about the right size use for making a wrist pin cushion with a band around the wrist and fastens with hook and loop tape.  I did not make the band for it because my experience with wrist pin cushions is that sooner or later I lose concentration and end up stabbing myself with a pin.  If I could figure out a way to put a piece of plastic inside the cushion to prevent the pins from coming out the bottom, it might make a nice wrist pin cushion.  So for now, I am going to use the small pin cushion as a cushion for holding a needle.  The cushion is not thick enough for a needle to be lost in the stuffing.

When pulling the thread through the center of the large pin cushions, I used a long soft sculpture needle.  It was long enough to go through the cushion easily and flexible enough that I could make sure that the needle came out the bottom at exactly the right spot.  It used to be that you could find these needles in any craft store, but most of the time you have to look for them online at doll making web sites.  A long upholstery needle could be used, but they are more rigid.  Smaller needles could be used on the two other pin cushions, but I continued to use the large needle because of its flexibility. 

Each indentation has its own piece of six strands of embroidery thread.  That would mean eight threads per cushion.  For the large size, each piece was fourteen inches (35.56 cm).  The smaller sizes used twelve inch (30.48 cm) and ten inch (25.4 cm) respectively.  It could actually be done two inches (5.08 cm) shorter, but I found that the longer thread length was more comfortable on my hands. 

The threads need to be pulled tight.  It was difficult to pull one tight then hold it tight while making a knot.  I found two things to be helpful while knotting the thread.  First off, after I pulled the thread through the center and up around the indentation I switched from the long soft sculpture needle to a large eye crewel work needle and made a small stay stitch after I pulled the thread tight.  (The soft sculpture needle is so long that I would have needed extra thread to accommodate that needle making the stay stitch.)  The stay stitch helped keep the thread from slipping loose while I was knotting it.  The second helpful item was a crochet hook.  Rather than trying to pull the thread through with my fingers while simultaneously pulling it tight, I used a crochet hook to grab the thread and pull it through to make the knot.  It saved a little time.  That movement felt clumsy at first, but after a few attempts the action became more fluid. 

At this point, I still have two sets of pin cushions to tie.  I expect to get them finished within a day or two.  After that, I start working on hand quilting my leaf and start quilt.  That will take some time.  I have other projects in the works.  I will be blogging on all of those projects as I get to a point where I have something interesting to show.  Check back on Thursday for the latest blog post.