Tool (for needlework) (Pincushion)

Description

This traditional Iroquois beaded pincushion has a red wool (broad cloth) body with gray silk trim. The reverse side of the silk is blue, suggesting that the original color of the fabric may have been blue or purple. Both sides of the cushion are beaded with the same pattern, which features a group of five gray cane glass beads surrounded by rings of raised clear seed beads. The cushion is stuffed with a soft plant material (possibly sweet grass, which was the traditional stuffing for these objects). Beaded bags, purses, and pincushions such as this one were highly popular objects made for the souvenir market in New York state during the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. The type of beadwork used on the cushion, known as "raised beadwork," is unique to the Haudenosaunee of New York state and Ontario. While sewing, the beadworker overloads the threads with beads, pushing (or raising) a number of beads above the surface level of the object. This pincushion was most likely made by a Seneca beadworker in western New York.