An illustrated article on the Dutch sewing-cushion and work-basket as shown in 17th-century paintings, engravings, samplers and inventories. It traces them from early depictions of the Virgin sewing and from Ter Borch, Vermeer and other Dutch painters to inventories of 1613-1637, surviving velvet cushions with fitted compartments in the Rijksmuseum, miniatures in doll's houses, and 18th-century sewing boxes with cushion lids. It also covers table-screws, weighted 'Steinkissen' and 'Plomb' cushions, and 19th-century sewing schools. It has many figure plates with captions, footnotes, acknowledgments and a post script, and no weaving drafts.