peacock | spincushions

Last weekend I got out the family crafting heirlooms from my camphor chest.

I wish I knew more than I do about it all. All I do know is that it was all made by my great-grandmother on my Mum’s side. She was amazing. She could knit, crochet & embroider and probably a whole lot more too.

Hand Knitted Bedspread

Knitted baby blanket

Hand sewn & embroidered tablecloth

Can you see a faint line around the middle of the tablecloth? I have no idea how it was done, but it is perfect on both sides. This is it up close :

How?

This tablecloth was done by embroidery Cutwork – you sew it & then cut away the middles. These days you can do it all on a sewing machine with special fabric stabilisers. Imaging doing it by hand?

Cutwork Embroidery tablecloth

I’m guessing my great granny had a round table or 2. Here’s a fillet crochet tablecloth. I can’t wrap my head around the time this would have taken.

Fillet Crochet tablecloth

Hankies didn’t escape the Great Gran’s touch

Hankie love

Of course, in those days you needed a pretty cloth to put your crystal perfume bottles on – more fillet crochet.

Dressing Table Cloth

Now this is another bedspread – my mum has memories of this always being on her Grandmother’s bed. I thought it was damask, but Mum thinks not.

Damask?

Now we are up to the pride of the collection of Great Gran’s creative works. This is truly mind-boggling. It is a bedspread done with fillet crochet using the finest of cottons. I have no idea how on earth she managed this, with poor light and a vastly different lifestyle to ours that would have left very little time. It must have taken months if not years of work.

Peacock Bedspread

Details

Wow huh? I am so glad that this has all survived to come to me. Treasures! Somehow I can’t see my creative things being as revered by my descendants LOL. Do you have any treasures?

I have been making pincushions for a couple of years now & I love coming up with new designs. I’m afraid I have a bit of a problem with making the same thing more than once, which is why there are so many different designs in my etsy shop.

Every now & then though, a design comes together & I know instantly it is right. It was like that with the peacock pincushion. As soon as I made the first one, I went “Yes!” in my head. It all came together well.

With this design, I have managed to overcome my “wont do it twice” attitude. I recently finished more detailed, embroidered versions and it got me thinking how the design has evolved over time. A good chance to go back & have a look at what has gone before.

Here is the very first peacock pincushion. He was made with acrylic felt. I love the olive green colour of the base.

peacock, pin cushion, pincushion, spincushions

First peacock pincushion design

I made a few this way, then I decided it was time for a tweak, so I moved the feather eyes about a bit

Second generation peacock design

As you can see, I made a few of these. Still needed more tweaking though and to be honest, I wasn’t as happy with these.

Then I had a change in materials. I discovered eco felt. (Felt made from used plastic drink bottles)

New felt, new colours, back a step design wise

What happened next was the start of making kits for people to make their own peacock pincushions. Slight colour change, but still with the eco-felt. This is how it is still

peacock kit, pin cushion, pincushion, spincushions

Final design for Peacock Pincushion Kit

But I wasn’t satisfied. I knew the design was a hit, but I was a bit bored with it. I wanted to make it just a little bit more special. So I thought I’d add more embroidery

embroidered peacock, pin cushion, pincushion, spincushions

Embroidered Feathers Peacock Pincushion

I made a couple this way, and knew I needed to make more, which led to the latest incarnation with even more embroidery and a move of the feather eyes again. I am pretty happy with this one. Might make a few more hehe.