This giant panel was made by 32 members of the museum’s Coffee and Crochet Group and is an interpretation of the paintwork on the horseboat Friendship which belonged to Joe and Rose Skinner many years ago.

The boat is on display in the museum and the crocheted panel is on a wall close by. It is possible to see both of them at the same time.

I created the design based on 6 inch (15mm) squares. All were mounted on 2mm thick card and then nailed to a piece of mountboard. Some of the larger elements, eg rose swags, are mounted on card which was cut to size based on the 6x6 module.

The castle panels are 3 dimensional. Plastic canvas was used to allow crocheted pieces to be shaped and also as the backing for castle panels to make attaching all the elements easier. The design of these panels was created by tracing a photograph of each panel on the boat and making the individual elements

The pieces of filet crochet are worked from Rose Skinner’s own designs.

A very important part of the Coffee and Crochet Group is the friendship, caring and support between members, so to use this boat and to be able to call the project FRIENDSHIP is most appropriate.

The group was very grateful for the funding from The Arts Council which enabled the purchase of materials to work the whole panel. It was an exciting and demanding
project which took 16 months to complete.

(Viewing on full screen shows a greater amount of detail)