I find doll heads to be rather disturbing, so why were craft projects, such as this safety pin holder, so popular in the past?
The following craft project was originally published in 1894. It was for a safety pin holder to be used in the nursery and it was topped with the “decapitated head” of a doll. (Our ancestors were apparently obsessed with decapitated heads.)
Safety Pin Holder
“Clever in Design and Nice Enough for Any Nursery”
There are all styles and shapes of pin cushions, from the practical, old fashioned square design to the latter day bit of giddiness – frills and ruffles and ribbons. Horseshoes, tambourines, crescents, four leaf clovers, triple bolsters, and a dozen different fancies, are to be seen in gowns of satin, overlaid with foamy frills of lace.
With such a varied choice, is it any wonder that the most elegant conceit in silver pin trays fails to banish the cushion from my lady’s dressing table?
A nursery belonging most attractive in its way is the safety pin holder. This consists of several circular layers of bright tinted flannel, pinked at the edges and topped by a circular piece of celluloid, the whole being fastened together in the middle by a few strong stitches. In letters of gold, you read upon the celluloid cover the hint to “look within for a safety pin.”
The decapitated head of a Chinese doll is fastened in the center of the celluloid.
Source: The Coconino weekly sun. (Flagstaff, Ariz.), 07 June 1894.
