Paddi has a minion!

Pearl the Knitsy

Long ago, never mind the precise time, there was a seamstress named Ima Couture. Ima was somewhat misunderstood in her time. People did not seem to understand her bizarre designs or her eccentric ways. For example, she would never let anyone near her favourite pincushion in the shape of a hedgehog. She had named her pincushion Paddi which was short for padding. She would talk to local villagers about her pincushion as if it was a beloved pet or young child. Many people wondered if she believed it was real--she did.

Ima believed that she poured her love and devotion into the very fabrics she used. This is why she valued her creations so much, to her, they were like her children that she sent out into the world. She would work so late into the night that she often fell asleep on her worktop with a pair of scissors in her hands. One morning she noticed that Paddi was on the far side of the room resting on some unused fabric. It was odd for her to be over there as Ima had no projects on that side of the room. "I must not have remembered where I set her last night," she said to herself, "and no one would have bothered to move her." Convincing herself it was nothing, she went about her day.

Ima woke that night shortly after two in the morning. This time it took a lot longer to find her beloved Paddi pincushion. When Ima finally found her, she was beside a pair of pinking shears. "That's odd," Ima said out loud, "I thought I threw these shears away ages ago." Baffled, Ima took the zigzag scissors and placed them in the trash. Over the next few days Ima found many things out of place. Her sewing needles, measuring tapes and even sewing books were all in unusual places. She didn't know what to think, except that maybe she was going mad.

A fortnight had passed and nothing unusual happened, until a stranger cloaked in a black trench coat entered her shop. He asked her to make the largest ballroom dress she could for his daughter's wedding. It had to be extremely expensive looking and the best dress anyone had ever laid eyes on. It was to be completely made and delivered in less than a month's time. Ima accepted immediately. She toiled over sketches, throwing many of them into the trash. As the deadline approached she became more manic about the dress and snapped at anyone who would dare suggest she take a break for trivial things like food.

One morning, Ima awoke to find a small sketched dress pattern underneath her hand. It was nothing like the ones she had been trying to draw and was the most exquisite dress she had ever seen. It was certainly not her work, but who else could it have been? The nearest dressmakers was a good four week carriage ride away. After lots of debating she decided to make the gown. Many days she found herself waking to see more of the dress completed then she recalled when she had gone to bed. Then one night she heard a soft scuffling sound and she woke to see her Paddi sitting on top of the dress form. Quietly, Ima put on her spectacles and squinted. She saw a needle in Paddi's wee paw and that was when she realized that all of the strange things that had been happening was the work of her pincushion.

No one would, of course, believe her, so she never said a word. The dress was finished and when it was delivered to the stranger's house it was instantly a hit. From then, Ima had also become an instant hit. But sadly while slaving over one of the many new orders several years later, Ima collapsed. Unable to continue working at the pace she was, Ima picked up her pincushion and whispered, I know you're alive little one. Thank you so kindly for all the help you have been. But my health cannot take this pace of life, so you must go now and find a new home. I want you to be successful and happy.

The little pincushion nodded and was gone before Ima woke the next day. When an item goes missing, or sewing looks further along than it is, when you see something out of the corner of your eye, that just might be Paddi lending a helping paw as she travels and sees the world. Countless people have gained knowledge from the silent little pincushion. Why it's even been said the most famous couture designer of our time has a little hedgehog pincushion.

Story by Raven, profile by Ringo with alterations done by Paddy no sticky paws!