This is a little series of posts about gadgets and tools we love to use.
The Tomato Pincushion
Ever since I can remember a tomato pincushion has been in either my Mum
or Nana’s sewing basket. So consequently one has found its way into my own sewing
basket studio.
The ones we have are filled with wool to prevent rusting and the little
strawberry has iron filings in it to help sharpen the pins. I had great fun as
a child “stabbing the strawberry!” We tend to have boxes of pins in the studio
as we get through so many, but I have always had a cheery red tomato pincushion
sitting next to my own sewing machine and wouldn’t be without one.
But I had never really pondered on the reasons for that particular shape,
or why it had a strawberry dangling
from the tomato?
However, on doing a bit of interweb digging into the history of
pincushions I found they have been mentioned as far back as the middle ages
where they were known by a few names: pimpilowes, pimplos, pimploes, pin-pillows, pimpilos , and my personal
favourite “pin-poppets”.
But it wasn’t until the
Victorian era that the tomato shape became popular. Apparently the
tomato shape relates to a bit of folklore where tradition dictates that a
tomato placed on the mantlepiece of a new house will bring prosperity and drive
out evil.
Unfortunately, tomatoes go out of season and don’t actually last very
long, so alternatives were created out of fabric and paper to provide year round
protection. This coincided with the fact that Victorian ladies liked a little bit of
conspicuous consumption and were able to use the fabric tomatoes to hold and display
the expensive pins and needles they used in their needlecraft.
As yet I have been unable to find any reasons for the strawberry shape
of the emery cushion; maybe it was just an easier shape to sew?
If anyone has a better solution or ideas please let me know.
Jules x
Ps. You can find the Traditional Tomato Pincushion in our online store.
