Pyramid Pouches and Pin Cushions

After Pyramid Pouch 1.0, I decided to attempt a new and improved pyramid. The first had a too blunt apex due to the zipper which was in upside down. In addition, the zipper stitching needed improvement both in the application of the zipper and in the top stitching. So, I decided to make 2 additional pyramids: one a zipper pouch the other a pin cushion.

First, the pin cushion.

Because of the arrangement of my workspace, I find myself walking around the primary work area quite a bit: from the cutting area to the sewing area and back again. While I rely primarily on clips for holding a piece together prior to sewing, I do use pins for some things. However, until this experiment, I had only a small magnetic pin holder and no pin cushions. I felt that I really needed a pin cushion both in the cutting area and in the sewing area to cut down on some steps. Thus, Pyramid Pin Cushion was conceived.

I began by cutting fabric and fusible fleece exactly the same as for a pyramid pouch. The exception being that I did not cut a lining fabric. And, of course, I did not use a zipper. I stitched the seam where the zipper would be for a pouch, leaving an opening to turn the cushion right side out. Then stitched the remainder of the cushion as for a pouch. After turning, I filled the pyramid with crushed walnut shell which I purchased from Amazon then stitched the opening closed. The result is a largish, somewhat heavy pin cushion that I will call Pin Cushion 1.0. It is serviceable and over all I am quite happy with it. It will live on the cutting station.

After the pin cushion success, I decided to make another pyramid pouch to see if I could correct the problems with version 1.0. Thanks to YouTube and a kind presence in a FaceBook sewing group, I learned 2 things about applying and top stitching zippers.

First, don't use a zipper foot. I know. The problem with zipper feet is the surface area of the foot. It is smaller than the surface area of most presser feet and, therefore, does not provide the traction and control that other presser feet do. Based on this advice, I used the multi-purpose presser foot for both applying and top stitching the zipper. All I had to do was adjust the needle position.

Second, sew the exterior of the pouch and the lining of the pouch in 2 separate passes rather than in a single sandwich as seen in most YouTube videos. This makes it easier to establish a stitch line with the exterior and follow that stitch line with the lining. The result is the appearance of a single stitch line. OK. Reading this it isn't clear how this works but if you try it, it really is easier than trying to do all of the stitching in a single pass.

Having applied the zipper, I paid more attention to the orientation of the zipper in the final pouch and produced a pyramid with the zipper opening from top to bottom rather than bottom to top as in version 1.0.

This is called Pyramid Zipper Pouch 1.1.

I still forgot the loop at the top. Oh well, version 1.2 is coming soon.

In addition, a second, non-pyramidal pin cushion is on the drawing board and coming soon.

dks, 27 Oct 2025