Putting cotton-reels to good use
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (366498)
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.
12 people like this
11 responses
@Dammy4life (205)
•
16 Oct
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
@BarBaraPrz (50851)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
16 Oct
I looked hard but couldn't come up with an answer for you.
2 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (50851)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
17 Oct
@JudyEv Not the hearse, the finials (the decorative tops) on the etagere. I thought they might be some sort of tatting bobbins, but what tatter would give them up, unless they went blind? 
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (366498)
• Rockingham, Australia
18 Oct
@BarBaraPrz I understand now. Do they look a bit like old-fashioned spinning tops? But no-one would buy 8 of those for decoration.
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@GardenGerty (166660)
• United States
17 Oct
This is like somethings I have seen in museums.
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@JudyEv (366498)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Oct
Just another example of making use of what's available.
@FourWalls (80680)
• United States
16 Oct
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! 
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (80680)
• United States
17 Oct
@JudyEv — I remember playing with my grandmother’s clothespins as a kid and getting stung by a wasp that didn’t appreciate my clothespin bird. 
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (87192)
• United States
16 Oct
Yes, our ancestors were very resourceful and had that whole "do it yourself" going long before it's become popular now.
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@JudyEv (366498)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Oct
Half the time they couldn't get what they needed so they had to come up with clever ideas.
