I have a confession to make: I hold my pins in my mouth while I sew. I know, so dangerous. Yet so convenient! I've had an idea kicking about in my head for a long time (ever since Pulp Fiction came out) for how to have my pins right near my mouth, but not actually in my mouth. But it wasn't until this year when I had my nasal cavity fixed and I became able to nose-breathe that I could actually try it out. I'm so glad I did!
What I did was to cut off the head off a small teddy bear, sew the neck hole closed, and then attach an elastic headband to make it hands free. You want to choose a teddy bear with a pretty three-dimensional head; anything flatter and you could poke your pins all the way through and into your face. It is quite comfortable but you may find that you want to take it off a little bit before you leave the house to let the indentations settle down.
And here it is in action! Just look how I'm able to sew effortlessly with both of my hands free and nary a pin making its way down my gullet.
