Trevelyon's Garden Pin Cushion - Finished!

This beautiful piece of silk on silk embroidery has been safely rolled up for months, waiting for me to find the time to finish the project. I started it way back in March, 2020 . Here is a link to the first post I wrote about the pin cushion.I was inspired by three different historical references.

First and foremost is a petticoat thought to have belonged to Queen Anne of Denmark held in the collection of the Burrell Museum, Glasgow. Having seen and photographed the petticoat years ago when I was in Glasgow, I had access to close up photos that I had taken. This helps enormously when I'm working on an historically inspired piece.

Secondly, a painting of Elizabeth Vernon, the Countess of Southampton, which shows a large  pin cushion her dressing table. Granted, it isn't an embroidered pin cushion, but it is a very important part of getting dressed every day. Much of a woman's dress, such as the one she is wearing, was held in place using pins. Just look at how many pins are in the pin cushion!

Thirdly, I again used botanical drawings from the Trevelyon's Miscellany of 1608. It's one of my favorite sources for designs as well as history.

In my imagination, the embroidery was meant to replicate a small piece of the petticoat that might have been found and turned into a pin cushion as a way to preserve the scrap of beautiful embroidered fabric.It's now been made into a pin cushion, filled with crushed walnut shells, trimmed with gold twist and ribbon tassels at each corner. It looks just as I imagined it would look.

However, I'm not sure I'll be putting any pins into it - ever!