Putting cotton-reels to good use / myLot

Rockingham, Australia

October 16, 2025 3:45am CST

@FourWalls commented on a recent discussion on how resourceful our ancestors needed to be way back when. We visited Mangowine Homestead while we were away and saw a home-made shelving unit. It had three shelves and would have held family treasures and/or knick-knacks. I’ve cropped my photo so you can see the uprights more easily. They are made of wooden cotton reels which were common at the time. However, I don’t know where the decorative tops would have come from. I remember seeing a horse-drawn hearse in a museum and some of the uprights of that were turned rungs from the backs of kitchen chairs. Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo of it.

11 people like this

11 responses

Anna

@LadyDuck (485019)

• Italy

14h

I had almost forgotten about those wooden cotton reels. My Mom had plenty when I was a very young girl. She sewed the dresses for my grandmothers and for me. Shame that I do not even know where they have been thrown.

4 people like this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (364134)

• Rockingham, Australia

11h

I remember them too. They are different to what you buy nowadays.

2 people like this

Anna

@LadyDuck (485019)

• Italy

11h

@JudyEv They are no more the same shape and often it's plastic.

2 people like this

Fleur

@Fleura (32873)

• United Kingdom

10h

@JudyEv @LadyDuck I still have quite a few wooden cotton reels in my box of threads. I'm gradually using them up but then of course I don't want to throw the wooden reels away!

2 people like this

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Damilola Obalade

@Dammy4life (103)

•

12h

That's actually pretty cool — people back then just grabbed whatever was laying around and figured it out. I love that whole "make do with what you got" vibe, and somehow they ended up with stuff that actually worked and didn't look half bad either.

3 people like this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (364134)

• Rockingham, Australia

11h

That's very true. They used whatever they had available.

2 people like this

BarBaraPrz

@BarBaraPrz (50445)

• St. Catharines, Ontario

10h

I looked hard but couldn't come up with an answer for you.

2 people like this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (364134)

• Rockingham, Australia

27m

Do you mean the hearse? Thanks for looking.

snowy

@snowy22315 (197472)

• United States

11h

It looks beautiful and functional.

2 people like this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (364134)

• Rockingham, Australia

24m

It's quite a nice looking piece really.

1 person likes this

Eva James

@wolfgirl569 (123634)

• Marion, Ohio

11h

They made the shelf lovely

2 people like this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (364134)

• Rockingham, Australia

11h

I thought it looked really nice - especially for those times.

3 people like this

LindaOH

@LindaOHio (203385)

• United States

12h

That's very clever and useful.

2 people like this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (364134)

• Rockingham, Australia

11h

It's a very clever idea I thought.

1 person likes this

Heather Echola

@GardenGerty (166065)

• United States

59m

This is like somethings I have seen in museums.

1 person likes this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (364134)

• Rockingham, Australia

26m

Just another example of making use of what's available.

Four Walls

@FourWalls (79444)

• United States

Thanks for the shout-out! My mom had a sewing kit when I was little, so I’d get the empty reels to play with. I was like a cat: liked those cheap things better than the expensive dolls!