Victorian Project: Shell Pincushion

Hello darlings!

Today I have another fun pincushion project for you to go along with my Bridle Pincushion Tutorial. I've seen this one floating around on Pinterest for years and, after a bit of digging, I've found the original source.

It's from a book entitled 'How to Make Toys for Girls' from 1860, and if you would like to you can purchase it from Etsy:

Illustrated How to MAKE TOYS for GIRLS Instructions on Vintage Home Made Toys for Girls Rare 1860 Book 163 Pages Printable Instant Download - Etsy UK

It's definitely worth it, it's full of fun projects that you will definitely see tutorials for in the future!

If you would like to see examples of these shell pincushions, I made a board on Pinterest. There's a surprising amount of extant examples so it must have been a very popular project! I couldn't find any examples of my bridle pincushion, but I could find many of this shell one.

*If you prefer following a video I've also uploaded this tutorial to youtube which you can find here.

But onto the main event-

This is the introduction to the 'pincushion' segment in the toys for girls book. As I wrote in my bridle pincushion tutorial, pincushions during the Victorian era weren't just used for sewing, pins were also used to fasten articles of clothing, attach brooches, do up baby nappies (!) and secure bows. So learning how to make a pincushion as a young girl would be a useful skill, and one she could potentially gift to her mother or other relatives who would no doubt appreciate (and utilise) the gift.

These are the original Victorian instructions, brief and direct. These are the instructions that I'll be following and expounding upon in my own tutorial.

How to Make a Shell Pincushion

You will need:

Two shells

Ideally approximately the same shape and size.

Cotton or calico scraps
Calico would be ideal for this project as it is a sturdier fabric, but if you have some plain cotton remnants you can use them instead. If you need to buy fabric, purchase 0.5m.
Velvet scraps

The pattern recommends blue or red, but if you have other colours lying around use them! Again, if you need to buy fabric, purchase 0.5m.

Wheat bran
Find at a health food shop. If you can't find wheat bran, you can use porridge oats (just don't get your pincushion wet!) or simply use toy stuffing.
Needle and thread
Superglue

Optional:

Small funnel
Ribbon (that matches your velvet)

Why not just make the pincushion out of velvet?

I hear you cry. If you ever see any 'unnecessary' steps in a sewing project, especially an old one, it's probably for a reason. In this instance, the calico base provides a solid structure for the pincushion that will keep its shape and is able to be handled roughly when it needs to be turned inside out and stuffed. The velvet under this sort of strain would 1. shed everywhere (ugh), 2. potentially warp out of shape and 3. possibly even unravel at the seams due to the aforementioned shedding.

The velvet is not only for decorative purposes either; calico would show pin marks where pins have been pushed in and then taken out. These pin marks are hidden in the pile of the velvet so even when it has been thoroughly used it still looks as neat as the day you made it!

This tutorial has three parts:

1. Large Shell

2. Small Shell

3. Mini Pincushion

The large shell tutorial uses a sewing machine for the bulk of construction. If you wish to hand-sew your pincushion, follow tutorial 2. If you can only find very small shells, skip to tutorial 3 for how to make a mini pincushion.

You will need all of the above materials for all three patterns.

Large Shell

1. Source Shells

If you're fortunate enough to live by the beach or are going on holiday soon, pick up a couple of shells. Ideally choose two that are roughly the same size and shape.

Later in this tutorial I will be using shells I sourced myself, but for this first segment I'm using shells that I purchased on eBay. It came in a pack of eight so I picked two of the prettiest that were also approximately the same size. These shells measure around 11cmx11cm.

2. Draw around shell

Using a pencil, draw around your shells. In this example 0.5cm was added around the edge of the drawing line so the pincushion would be larger than the shell itself.

Refer to the finished photos of this project and decide whether or not you would like to do the same- remember that velvet is bulky and will also add to the dimensions of the pincushion.

(If you don't want to cover the calico in velvet at the end, don't use a pencil to draw the lines, use something that can be removed later such as tailor's chalk or a frixion pen.)

Add a 1.5cm seam allowance and cut out.

Repeat with the other shell. You can trace around both or just do one and copy it if the shells are a similar size.

3. Create band

Measure around your shells and choose the larger of the measurements. In this case, the circumference of the larger shell was 33cm.

Fold a scrap of calico in half and half your shell circumference measurement. Again, this comes down to personal taste, but for this example the width of the band at the narrowest point was 1.5cm and at the largest was 5cm. Shape to match both the original Victorian design and the image above.

Add 1.5cm seam allowance and cut out.

This 'pattern' is also given in the instructions, if you're computer savvy you could upscale the image to the size you require.

Unfold it and voila!

It will come in handy later if you keep this as a 'pattern' and trace it onto another piece of calico. On your traced version, add more seam allowance to either end (5cm is enough) and draw in the seam allowance lines.

4. Pin and sew band to body

This pincushion is large enough that it can fit under the machine. For smaller pincushions hand-stitching is more appropriate (see the next tutorial).

Use a lot of pins, following the pencil drawn line. Either machine-stitch or hand-sew, leaving a gap at the bottom, large enough to turn the finished pincushion inside out and stuff it later.

Trim down the seam allowance, then repeat on the other side.

Turn inside out.

5. Stuff the pincushion

Fill your pincushion with bran. With a shell this size it uses a surprising amount of bran, so over-estimate how much you'll need. Either use a funnel or just pour very delicately.

It was the trickiest when the bran had reached the top and refused to go into the edges at either side, so squish it around a lot and make sure the whole pincushion is fully packed. You can add a little more to the top in the next step.

Cut off any excess seam allowance at the bottom, fold one side over the other and sew. Start with one side, stuff as much bran into the gap at the other side as you can before sewing up the other side. This will be covered in a moment so it doesn't have to be the neatest.

6. Cut out velvet

Using your band pattern from earlier, use it to cut out your velvet.

7. Attach velvet to pincushion

Wrap your velvet around your pincushion turn under a small section of one end and sew.

With a rough whip-stitch pull the velvet tightly around your pincushion, first on one side and then the other.

8. Glue shell to pincushion

Go around the circumference of your shell with superglue, especially the parts that stick up and will be against your pincushion. Hold and press the pincushion against the shell for a few minutes until the glue adheres.

And voila! You have a shell pincushion!

9. Add ribbon

Tie a pretty matching ribbon in a bow and attach it to the base of your shell, either with superglue or sew it on (although this will be fiddly!).

Small Shell

This tutorial will be much the same as the first one. The only difference with this one is that it involves hand-sewing the pincushion base instead of using a machine.

1. Source Shells

These shells I found on Brighton beach last year. It took a while to find two that were of a similar size and also opposites of one another.

They measure roughly 6cm long and 3cm wide.

2. Draw around shell

Because this shell is smaller I decided to not add 0.5cm. I only added the 1.5cm seam allowance.

3. Create band

For this smaller size the end of the band measures 1cm and the largest point in the middle measures 1.5cm. It's 16cm long.

4. Pin and sew band to body

Using a needle and thread, stitch the band to the body using a small, close backstitch. Leave a gap at the bottom large enough to turn it inside out and to stuff bran inside later.

5. Stuff the pincushion

With such a small pincushion, if you have a funnel it will make this job easier. Stuff the pincushion with bran, pushing it down to ensure the pincushion is as stuffed as possible.

Cut off any excess seam allowance, turn one side under and sew.

6. Cut out velvet

Unfortunately I didn't save the pattern for this one, but luckily it wasn't too difficult to recreate.

7. Attach velvet to pincushion

Turn one side under and sew.

Whip stitch one side of the velvet to the pincushion, then the other, pulling it taut as you sew.

8. Glue shell to pincushion

Apply superglue to the outside of the shell. Hold and press to the pincushion for a few minutes until the glue has adhered.

9. Add ribbon

Tie a matching ribbon in a little bow and attach it to the base. I also added a little thread so it can be hung up as the Victorians loved a hanging pincushion.

Mini Pincushion

1. Source shell

This is another shell I found on Brighton beach. It's a very common shell to find on a British beach so I thought I'd include a tutorial on what to do with a shell like this just in case you can't find two large shells.

Despite this not following a Victorian tutorial I think it is very reminiscent of a Victorian design and their penchant for pretty yet useful things.

2. Cut out calico

Cut out a small circle of fabric. This will be gathered up into a ball to fit inside your shell so you may want to test out different sizes to ensure a good fit. For this size, I traced around a small gum container.

3. Cut out velvet

Use your calico as a pattern and cut an identical circle in velvet.

4. Create the pincushion shape

Place your velvet on top of the calico. Treat them as one as you sew a loose gathering stitch around the edge of the circle. Gather, but don't gather fully just yet.

5. Stuff pincushion

Pour some bran into your mostly gathered circle. Stuff it as much as possible before pulling the gathering stitch fully, stitching several times to ensure it stays in place.