Splashers in Redwork

I love to re-capture the past and in so doing, have made a number of reproduction splashers, those pieces of cotton, linen, or linen/cotton that hang on the wall behind a washstand with a pitcher and bowl. Today, splashers are seen in museums but not usually in homes. With the advent of plumbing, they became antiquated and simply not needed.

Today I will share two splashers that are companion pieces. The designs were found in a late 19th century (1800s) catalog of mail order patterns. With today's technology, I was able to increase the designs to the sizes needed for my project.

Splasher reproduction in Redwork embroidery by Patricia Cummings

Splasher reproduction in Redwork embroidery by Patricia Cummings

Splashers often say "Good Morning" or "Good Night." For the splashers shown here I used a high-quality linen-cotton fabric (60/40). The "girl" splasher looks very similar to one that is sometimes on display at the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site in Plymouth, Vermont. It can be seen in the "Homestead" in Abbie Coolidge's room or at least it was shown there at one point in time. The trickiest part of doing this project is all of the "couching" stitches for the tendrils. I was pleased with the final result.