Patchwork Object

Items

• Patch by Lauren
  I sadly don’t remember my grandma, but on the day that I was born, she and my granddad visited me in hospital and gave me a beautiful toy green rabbit. They had won it on the pier earlier that day at Weston-Super-Mare. I took an immediate shine to that little rabbit. He became my most favourite thing in the world. When I was old enough to speak, I named him Richard, which slowly became “Ritchie” over the years. I couldn’t sleep at night without him and he travelled everywhere with me. He was so well loved that he inevitably became worn after just a few years. His original yellow cloth outfit grew faded and my mum suggested a visit to the local haberdashers to pick out a piece of fabric to make him a new outfit. I remember that I chose a soft white cotton with little cartoon rabbits playing tennis. That afternoon, I watched my mum in fascination as she gently unpicked his old outfit and stitched on the new one. A couple of months later, I decided that he wanted a change of clothes. This time, my mum had some scraps from a set of curtains she had just made – lime green with white patterns. Again, I watched as she transformed him with this new set of clothes. He looked so dapper! From that day forward, Ritchie would get several new outfits a year. I still have him today and he remains one of my most prized possessions. And yes, my mum still regularly stitches him new outfits. He must have had more than 100 over the years! A very spoilt rabbit indeed 😊 This piece of fabric comes from his latest outfit, which she made him for Christmas 2023.