Pincushion, baby's pincushion

Layette or maternity pincushions were traditional gifts for new mothers to mark and celebrate the birth of a child. They were usually given after the birth and not before, due to superstitions that pins would increase the pain experienced during the birth. Pins were arranged in hopeful and congratulatory messages such as the one shown here: "Bless the babe and spare the mother". This practice may have been referenced by Charles Dickens in the 1850 novel David Copperfield, when he wrote that a baby had been "welcomed by some grosses of prophetic pins".

Pins were a vital part of a woman's workbox, used on a daily basis to fasten or mend her own clothes or those of a baby. They would also have been used to fasten cloth nappies or diapers.