How to Sharpen Sewing Pins?

Unless you’re an irresponsible person who often loses a pin before it wears out, you must have usually come across the problems of unsharp pins.

Not only do you have to suffer from slow sewing due to unsharp pins, but sometimes they become so blunt that your sewing quality is affected.

However, even if you come to know that your sewing pin needs some sharpening to go further, it’s not the easiest thing to do, and you would need some help.

In this article, I will tell you all about how you can easily sharpen a pin using different methods.

Why do you need to sharpen a pin?

First off, why do you even need to bother with the sharpening of a pin? Why not keep using it till its last breath? Why waste your time trying out different methods trying to sharpen it?

Well, all these queries will be answered in this segment.

Sewing pins are probably the most important thing when it comes to a sewing project.

Even though there is much other equipment being used, it all comes to pins when it comes to the basic working. So, a sharp needle is what’s needed the most for the successful continuation of your project.

However, if you fail to perform this ritual of sharpening your pins regularly and keep using a relatively blunt one, you might end up putting a lot of extra effort into your work and sometimes not arriving at the perfect sewing results you want.

So, you need to know how you can make your pins sharp and make sure when you start working, they could swiftly breeze through the fabrics.

Different Ways to Sharpen Sewing Pins

There are few ways you could use to get a sharp pin, and as a matter of fact, you need to sharpen both the tip and the shaft separately to get the perfect results.

So here I will mention a few ways which are the most effective.

Treating with Oil

This may sound a bit surprising to you but treating a pin with oil is one of the best ways to sharpen it. All you’ve to do is dip the needle into the oil.

It could be any ordinary oil, but my recommendation is to use either coconut or cooking oil.

Once it’s fully dipped, you can rub it using foil paper to take out the dullness and when you feel satisfied, clean the pin using a simple fabric or cloth.

This will not only sharpen the pin but also remove any rust on the pin.

Using Emery Strawberries

Emery strawberries are not so common, so you might not have heard about them. But worry not, I will tell you everything you need to know.

First, get the emery strawberry; it will be filled with a structure like sand.

You have to put your pin into this sand-like thing and kind of scrub it a little to take off any rust and sharpen it. Do this until you feel like the pin is pointed enough.

That’s all impressive, right?

Well, you could buy emery and keep it with your sewing equipment all the time to make the sharpening process a lot more convenient.

Soap Bars

Due to the extreme availability of soap bars, this method is the most used and the favorite amongst most sewers. This is also quite easy to implement and won’t take you a lot of time as well.

The only thing you have to do is push the pin from its head into the bar of soap.

After some time, you can take the pin out from the soap, and if it’s not sharp enough, you can easily push it back in, depending on how quick you want your pin to be.

A major benefit of this method is that the soap not only sharpens the pin but it also forms a film around it, which makes it furthermore comfortable for the pin to penetrate the fabrics.

So, it’s kind of a bonus with this method; I guess this is the reason why people like it so much.

Steel-Wool

Steel wool is another rare thing that isn’t known by a lot of people.

It’s nothing but a steel filament, which is quite fine as well as sharp. If you’re a jeweler or you’re in metal crafting, you might know about it a bit.

Anyway, the process is pretty simple.

Unlike the soap bars, you don’t have to dump your needle inside the steel wool for a long time, but you have to keep inserting it and taking it out a few times unless it’s sharpened.

Ensure you don’t leave the pin inside for too long as it could rust or damage your pin.

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