As long as I’ve been sewing, I’ve never had a strawberry emery! An emery pincushion is filled with emery powder, which is essentially aluminum oxide. It can remove tarnish from pins and needles as well as polish them. The ubiquitous tomato pincushion will often have a small strawberry emery attached to it. You can learn more about using an emery pincushion here.
Heather Bailey’s Pincushion Kits
Over the holidays I purchased a couple kits from Heather Bailey’s store, and a packet of emery powder from Fat Quarter Shop. I’ve had Heather’s Fresh Picked Pincushions pattern for quite a long time but never got around to making any of them. I’m eyeing the pear for a future Christmas ornament!
I made the large strawberry, and the kit has (almost) everything you need. The emery was easy to work with although I’m now thinking I should have made a lining bag to put the emery filling in.
I wanted to embroider strawberry seeds on mine, but the pearl cotton forced emery powder to exit the strawberry and make a general mess. Thankfully the emery doesn’t continue to leak out after I pulled the pearl cotton out, but the velveteen is slightly marred.
Transferring Designs to Felt
One tip I have for you today is to trace the felt shapes onto freezer paper and press them onto your felt. After you cut the pieces the freezer paper peels right off! This is a technique that is used in applique quilting frequently but is perfect here since it’s challenging to transfer designs to felt.
I didn’t use any glue but tacked down the strawberry top to the strawberry using a bit of thread. The natural way the edges of the cap pop up is very charming to me! I ran out of green embroidery thread from the kit but happened to have a match in my stash! How fortunate!
Overall I was happy with the kit although I wish it came with more green embroidery thread and a nicer ribbon. The ribbon feels a bit thin but would be just fine if I used the included poly-fill. I hope the emery stays in the pincushion over time but if not I can replace the filling later.
Do you have a strawberry emery for your pins and needles? What do you like to fill your pincushions with? I hope you found the freezer paper tip helpful; you can find all my tips and tutorials on the Tutorials page!
