Magnetic Pin Cushion

I've been down in my sewing room quite a bit lately, and one thing you'll notice is that my straight pins are in a tomato pin cushion.  I think my mom gave it to me when she gave me my first sewing machine 20+ years ago.  It does the job of holding the pins, but I've eyed the magnetic ones at the sewing store--but never got around to replacing the perfectly functional tomato with a $20 magnetic one.

Inspiration struck one day when I was looking at the grocery ads.  Harbor Freight Tools always has a coupon ad that comes with my grocery fliers.  One of the items that you could get for free with any purchase was a magnetic screw/nut/bolt holder.  I went to Harbor Freight and the magnetic tray was already on sale for $2--so I bought one and used the coupon to get another one for free.


I could have just opened them up and started using them as is, but I have a love for all things rose gold these days, and I had a can of spray paint in the garage.  I washed them with dish soap to remove the residue of oil that was on them, used tape to cover up the rubber base (I probably could have just left it) and then put 3 light coats of paint on it.  I let it cure/dry for a couple days and voila, magnetic pin cushion.  I like it.  It doesn't seem as strong as others I've seen, but I can turn the dish upside down and the pins stay put.  I might take a neodymium magnet (aka rare earth, super strong mini magnet) and stick it to the side just to see what happens.  


All in all a quick, cheap and easy project that has a useful function.