] p. 185 - how does one wear a pincushion?

From somewhere I have this image of a cushion attached to your left arm, where the pins were handy. But that might be a much more recent device.

From what I have found, the first mention of a needlemakers’guild in Nürnberg, Germany was in 1370. The English learned how to make them from them. Seems to have been a delicate process. During the nineteenth century the industrial manufacturing of sewing tools began.

When they were handmade the needles were most important among the sewing materials. They had to be sharp and smooth and must be taken care of in order to avoid damage or rust. They were kept in a needle’s house (?), a needle’s book(?) or a pincushion.
Needles were expensive and a well-filled pincushion was a status symbol that one liked to place where it was visible. With the needles you used to have a minor whetstone to sharpen them and a piece of emery cloth to polish away any appearing rust.