A Tomato Pin Cushion - the History
Many sewists have traditionally utilized a tomato pin cushion to manage their pins for sewing, but most of us do not know why the shape was popular - as now there are many shapes and sizes of pincushions. Households often had pin cushions (or pin pillows) of some type. Early on the pin pillows were ornate, and actually used more as a decorative item. Eventually they were utilized for pin organization.
By the Victorian Era, folklore tells us that a fresh tomato placed on the mantle or a new home warded off evil spirts and promised prosperity for the residents of a new home. Fresh tomatoes were used initially but as they were only available during certain seasons and would not stay fresh for too long, the good-luck symbol was frequently created from fabric and stuffed with sand or sawdust and made to look like the real thing with embellishments such as leaves and veins. Eventually sewists realized that the tomato could also serve as something more useful. As needles and pins were left around the house they were picked up and stuck into the tomato. So the concept of a good-luck symbol and the utility of a sewist's pin pillow merged. A strawberry was added, filled with sand, that aided in sharping pins.
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The pincushion is one of the basic tools that a sewist needs - other tools include a good fabric scissors, a fabric gauge, hand sewing needles, a cloth tape measure, and a needle threader (handy but optional).
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