# why are pin cushions shaped like tomatoes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 29, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434 "2008-01-29T06:19:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kristynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a3d4f5/32.png) [@kristynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kristynn)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/1 "2008-01-29T06:19:19Z")
it’s something i’ve always wondered. just seeing if anyone has the answer. i googled with no luck. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/2 "2008-01-29T06:23:35Z")
My WAG is that before they had pin cushions, people used real tomatoes. Seems to me that would work perfectly. It wouldn’t be hard to get the pin in, and it would stay in place once it was in. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/3 "2008-01-29T07:12:45Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] My WAG is that before they had pin cushions, people used real tomatoes. Seems to me that would work perfectly. It wouldn’t be hard to get the pin in, and it would stay in place once it was in. [/QUOTE] I don’t think so since tomatoes are highly acidic and would probably corrode the pins over time. Besides, the juice would stain some fabrics, perhaps permanently. My guess is that it’s simply an easy thing to make. I imagine back in the day, many little girls practiced their sewing and crafting skills by making one for their own sewing kits and probably for their mothers and aunts as well. I, myself, have been pondering making a new one to replace the worn store-bought number I presently have. The green felt, made to resemble the sepals (That’s the proper term, isn’t it?) of a tomato hides where the fabric has been gathered around the stuffing. If one wanted to make a persimmon pincushion, that would work too. Not so much for an orange or a potato or small melon, say. That’s my WAG. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/4 "2008-01-29T07:17:01Z")
Googling “tomato pincushion history” produced [this](http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/23/sanders.php): > [@](#): > > But it turns out that virtually everyone’s mother had a version of the tomato pincushion— all because of homeopathic magic. In many Renaissance households, people placed a tomato on their mantle as a way of containing evil in one evil object, thus helping to ensure prosperity for the family. But tomatoes eventually rot. So people resorted to stuffed models. And since the little cushions possessed a bit of voodoo magic, it held all the pins and needles in the house. and [this](http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/tomatoes.asp): > [@](#): > > As time went on, however, the tomato was seen by many as a sign of good luck and prosperity. It used to be that, if a tomato was placed on a mantle over the fireplace, it was as a promise of prosperity to the family owning the new home, who eventually would start a new life. Certain times of the year tomatoes were hard to come by, and could not be grown, so in replacement, tomato sized balls of red fabric were stuffed with sand or sawdust and used in the place of the real ones. Comically, a new invention occurred as a result. These filled balls also doubled as pincushions! This was why pincushions were always replicas of the round red tomato. These hits were only from the first page. Other variations may appear further down. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/5 "2008-01-29T07:20:46Z")
\*\*Scarlett, \*\* that’s interesting! Thanks for posting that. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/6 "2008-01-29T10:28:17Z")
I still have my tomato pin cushion from high school. It looks almost new compared to the one my mother has passed on to me. I’ll be even more sentimental about it after reading this. Have you ever seen the tomato pin custion with a little strawberry attached? It is for keeping needles sharp. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/7 "2008-01-29T12:18:35Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] I still have my tomato pin cushion from high school. It looks almost new compared to the one my mother has passed on to me. I’ll be even more sentimental about it after reading this. Have you ever seen the tomato pin custion with a little strawberry attached? It is for keeping needles sharp. [/QUOTE] While we’re fighting ignorance, I remember my mom telling me the strawberry was filled with emery. As a kid, I always wondered what emery was. I didn’t know it existed any place else but an emery board. Your reminiscence about the strawberry raised that eternal question once again. [And the answer is…](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emery_(mineral)) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/8 "2008-01-29T12:28:32Z")
I’ve never ever seen a pincushion shaped like a tomato. The ones I’ve seen have always been like, well, miniature square cushions, covered in that check tablecloth material. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/9 "2008-01-29T12:31:09Z")
> [@](#): > > But it turns out that virtually everyone’s mother had a version of the tomato pincushion— all because of **homeopathic** magic. In many **Renaissance** households, people placed a tomato on their mantle a Horse shit. Homeopathy was invented in the 18th C by some German dude. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/10 "2008-01-29T13:45:33Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Horse shit. Homeopathy was invented in the 18th C by some German dude. [/QUOTE] And since tomatoes were a New-World fruit and considered poisonous by many people into the 1800s why would all these Renaissance folks have them in their homes? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/11 "2008-01-29T13:54:55Z")
[QUOTE=VernWinterbottom] And since tomatoes were a New-World fruit and considered poisonous by many people into the 1800s why would all these Renaissance folks have them in their homes? [/QUOTE] Maybe because the Mediterranian [began cultivating tomatoes in the 1540s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato) and the Reneaissance lasted [through the 17th century](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance). ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/12 "2008-01-29T19:17:56Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] Have you ever seen the tomato pin custion with a little strawberry attached? It is for keeping needles sharp. [/QUOTE] My mom had one! ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/13 "2008-01-29T19:40:59Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] I’ve never ever seen a pincushion shaped like a tomato. The ones I’ve seen have always been like, well, miniature square cushions, covered in that check tablecloth material. [/QUOTE] Same here. I did a Google image search for “pincushion” and out of the first 250-odd, only five were tomato shaped. Certainly, some of the hits were for plants and so on that merely had pincushion as part of their name, but of the actual pincushions on show, tomatoes were very much in the minority. One might as well ask why pincushions are heart-shaped, or mushroom-shaped, or (oddly enough) cushion-shaped. Is it some people’s experience that pincushions are invariably tomato-shaped? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/14 "2008-01-29T20:00:30Z")
The pincushions I grew up with were tomato-shaped, wehich confused the heck out of me when I went into optics and learned that “pincushion distortion” was so named because the guy who named it was familiar with pincushions shaped like squares with elongated corners. > **[Articles tagged "learn": Digital Photography Review](https://www.dpreview.com/learn/?%2Fkey=pincushion%2Bdistortion)** > > Expert news, reviews and videos of the latest digital cameras, lenses, accessories, and phones. Get answers to your questions in our photography forums. > **[Distortion (optics)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_distortion)** > > In geometric optics, distortion is a deviation from rectilinear projection; a projection in which straight lines in a scene remain straight in an image. It is a form of optical aberration. > Although distortion can be irregular or follow many patterns, the most commonly encountered distortions are radially symmetric, or approximately so, arising from the symmetry of a photographic lens. These radial distortions can usually be classified as either barrel distortions or pincushion distortions. > M... I still haven’t seen a pincushion shaped like that. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/15 "2008-01-29T20:01:51Z")
I suppose this is what they meant: [http://www.stitchandbloom.org/shop/product.php?productid=114](http://www.stitchandbloom.org/shop/product.php?productid=114) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/16 "2008-01-29T20:22:26Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Horse shit. Homeopathy was invented in the 18th C by some German dude. [/QUOTE] They probably meant **sympathetic** magic. Like calls to like is one of the oldest forms of magical thinking. The thinking goes - the tomato is poison, it will collect malign effungences passing through. This is the first that I’ve heard of tomatoes being used that way, though, so I’m not sure I believe it. If you still can’t picture a tomato pincushion, [Amazon has a picture.](http://www.amazon.com/Tomato-Pin-Cushion-With-Emery-Strawberry/dp/B000FVXTCA) Looking at the wrapping, maybe we can blame Singer. They were a major sewing machine manufacturer. If they gave one out free with each purchase, it might have become the standard over time. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/17 "2008-01-29T20:42:16Z")
[QUOTE=WotNot] Is it some people’s experience that pincushions are invariably tomato-shaped? [/QUOTE] 'Round these here parts, there are TWO acceptable forms of pincushions, with a new fangled third getting all upitty trying to make inroads into the pincushion market. There’s the tomato pincushion with strawberry sharpener, as already discussed. This is the one everyone’s mother and grandmother has, but IME, _no one_ knows what the strawberry is for. There’s the [wrist pincushion](http://www.beaconfabric.com/vindex.html?cat189.htm), made popular in the 70’s. Your mom might have one, but your grandmother doesn’t see the need for it. Then there’s the newfangled [magnetic pincushion](http://www.sewbaby.com/big/notions4_/nt-19.html), which rocks six ways to Sunday and is viewed with much suspicion on the part of sewing housewives. Oh! If only they knew! This thing not only holds pins, but it lines them up for you as you drop them haphazardly without looking! In perfect parallel configuration, so when you pick pins up out of it, you don’t end up with pins under your fingernails! And if you still manage to spill the pins, it will pick them up for you off the floor, and even sort them out from the pile of thread clippings and cat hair, buy it’s simple magnetic action! It’s like God Herself designed the pincushion for the 21st century! I’m still the only person I know who owns one of these. Luddites. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/18 "2008-01-29T21:07:44Z")
[QUOTE=WotNot] Is it some people’s experience that pincushions are invariably tomato-shaped? [/QUOTE] Yes. Even the ones that I’ve seen that aren’t tomato colored were always more or less tomato-y shaped. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a square pin cushion before this thread. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/19 "2008-01-29T22:22:53Z")
[QUOTE=WotNot] Same here. I did a Google image search for “pincushion” and out of the first 250-odd, only five were tomato shaped. Certainly, some of the hits were for plants and so on that merely had pincushion as part of their name, but of the actual pincushions on show, tomatoes were very much in the minority. One might as well ask why pincushions are heart-shaped, or mushroom-shaped, or (oddly enough) cushion-shaped. Is it some people’s experience that pincushions are invariably tomato-shaped? [/QUOTE] Yes. It sounds like in the US, pincushions are invariably [tomato-shaped](http://www.craftconn.com/Main.asp?Task=Custom&Step=Notion+Details&productID=14206) but not in the UK. Which discredits the Renaissance household theory. All the pincushions that pop up in a Google image search tend to fancy ones, not may tomoatos _or_ little square pillows. I’d venture a guess that most people only post photographs of interesting examples of pincushions instead of the boring, everyday ones.. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434/20 "2008-01-29T23:31:18Z")
If you google _Chinese Pincushion_, you’ll find pictures of them that are similar to the tomato shape, but not actually made to resemble a tomato - they’re just roundish and have a radial pattern of threads strung across them - like a sort of abstract pumpkin shape. Is it possible that these predate the tomato design - and that the tomato design is based on them? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-pin-cushions-shaped-like-tomatoes/435434.md?page=2)