Object: Maternity Pincushion
Date: 1831
Category: Lifestyle
Museum Listing: CAMFK: 10.70
Price of Adoption: £25.00/month
Pincushions were useful gifts given to new mothers after the birth of their child. Pins were used to decorate the cushion, spelling out names and phrases. In this case, the pins spell out ‘Welcome Sweet Babe’.
Pincushions filled with pins were a practical, as well as a decorative gift, as pins were useful in many aspects of domestic life. However, it was considered unlucky to give a mother a pincushion before the birth of the child with the saying, ‘For every pin a pain.’ The superstition suggests that if you give a gift before the safe arrival of the child, you are tempting fate and may have a difficult birth.