Update: I’ve been using this magnetic pin holder for several years now and still think it’s the best. But I must warn you that pins, needles, scissors, tweezers, seam gauges, all our metal sewing accouterments are attracted to the base. That’s a little annoying, but a small price to pay.
Magnetic pin holders are great and I’m sure you’ve seen the magnets attached to the bottom of saucers or small bowls already. I’m not reinventing the wheel, but, well, I tried gluing a couple of magnets to the bottom of a dish and realized pretty quickly, there had to be something better. It just didn’t do the trick for me. Not enough magnetic strength to keep the pins from falling out if it was bumped.
Why make one when you can buy them in the store for just a few bucks? Two reasons. #1, pretty and #2 size.
My small dish, magnetic pin holder:
And here’s the store-bought version with the same amount of pins:
Knock it off the table and most of those pins will be scattered all over the floor.
Which is the same problem I found with gluing a couple of magnets on the bottom of a dish. So I took it several magnets further.
Simple enough, right? Well…. maybe not. The type of magnet makes a difference. They must be strong! After trying several different magnets I had in my supplies, I highly recommend these ceramic magnets from Tree House Studio that can be found at Hobby Lobby. I tried to find some for you online other than Hobby Lobby, but could never find any that I was sure were strong enough. Magnet strength descriptions got complicated and I gave up.
I used E6000® Craft Adhesive to attach them. But there was a little problem. They would slide to each other! So I would glue 2 at a time and tape them down with regular transparent tape. When they dried, I’d do the next set, and so on until I had four groups of two magnets all around the little bowl.
And now I have the best, magnetic pin holder ever! It even sticks to the ironing board! 😀
Great idea! I love to sew
Excellent idea. Pretty and functional. Appreciate the heads up on where to purchase the magnets. Will be making at the very least one.
A little dot of hot glue will hold the magnets in place nicely until the e6000 dries.