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Anyone ever use crushed walnut shells for filling pincushions? I picked up a bag at PetSmart (sold as bird cage litter) & plan to try them in a pincushion, as an experiment. Any tips on using walnut shells from pincushion veterans? Good idea or not? (I saved the receipt & haven't opened the bag yet.)

I love the way they fill the pincushion...

My favorite pincushion has walnut lizard litter in it. Well worth the price. For a big pincushion I added some fiber fill to make it weigh less. You'll have enough for lots of gifts too.

I wondered about putting walnut shells in the bottom & some batting in the top. Yep - got a lifetime supply - 7 lb. bag, for around $10. I forget exactly because I was picking up different litters for my cats, who get neutered soon. They'll need paper-type, dust-free litter after surgery. Found some in the rabbit/ferret section that might work for them. Not a huge fan of Yesterday's News kitty litter...I would not want to have to step on those hard pellets to go pot-tay!

Didn't know that birds needed litter, but thanks anyway, birdies, for the possible pincushion fill!

I looked all over for crushed walnut shells. The only thing I could find were some that were made into pellets. I thought that it would be somewhat lumpy.

Stopped at an art quilt store and she had made some using aquarium sand. She said it kept her pins and needles sharpend and the weight kept them from falling on the floor.

I readily found the sand, used it and love it. I bought enough to make a lot of pincushions for about 5 dollars.

Sand, like real soft little beach sand particles, or more like aquarium gravel? If little particles, does it leak out through the weave or the seams?

The crushed walnuts I found are about the consistency of cracked (not ground) black pepper. They look like they pack together nicely, at least in the bag.

I saw crushed walnut shells online at some sewing store's site ($2-ish for a little bag), but then I read in a blog that you can find the same stuff in the pet store, bigger bag & cheaper.

I have used walnut shells and like them. I also bought them at the pet store. They're easy to find, just look in the section for small critters!

I have friends that have used them and made a muslin bag to fill and put that inside the pin cushion to prevent leakage. One other thought is to put a note on the outside about the type of fill. A friend with nut allergies gave me that tip.

Aquarium sand is fine, not like the gravel at all. It's cleaned and no scent, I use a muslin bag inside the cushion. So far, I've not had any trouble with leaking sand and my pins and needles stay nice and sharp.

I used some walnut shells mixed with the fine styrofoam pellets to give some weight to the triangular pillow I made to support my IPad for easy reading. I got the pellets from one of the kids squishy pillows, or another time from neck roll horseshoe shaped pillows found at Sal vation Arm y. Just the right price at those places.

You'll find many vintage pin cushion instructions use crushed walnut shells as filler. They've been around a long time.