Victorian Good Luck Symbol - Tomato Pincushion

The red tomato pin cushion. For many of us it brings up fond memories of childhood. Remember when you first learned to sew, when your Mom thought you were old enough to use the sharp needle. She showed you how to run the thread thru the hole and how to twist and twirl the thread off the end of your finger to make a knot. Remember the joy of running the thread through the colorful scrap of fabric your Mom gave you. I remember the first clothes I sewed for my dolls and the dresses I made for my trousseau.

 The memory of creating. 

Tomatoes were used as a Victorian Good Luck Symbol, The tomato was put on the mantel of a new home, guaranteeing to keep away evil spirits and bring good luck to the new owners. If tomatoes were out of season, a fabric tomato was created out of red cloth and filled with sand. This stuffed tomato eventually was used as a “pin-pillow”.

The pin-pillow became the pin-cushion.

The pin-cushion brings to mind the red tomato with the red strawberry and the memory of creating.  

The faces and the colors and the textures are all happy to me. To me, these are my memories  of happy times – the times of creating.