From Paper to Stitches

Erica Wilson mastered traditional needlework methods, but throughout her career she also enjoyed creating more modern, playful designs. She adapted this needlework picture from an illustration in Beatrix Potter’s Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904), a beloved childhood story that follows two bad mice, Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca, as they explore a red brick dollhouse. The image Wilson selected for the needlework shows Hunca Munca laying her baby in a cradle she pilfered from the dollhouse.

 

Needlework

Hunca Munca Erica Wilson United States; 1972 or later Wool, linen Gift of the Family of Erica Wilson 2015.47.21a

Beatrix Potter Illustration

Hunca Munca. From Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904). Courtesy L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah