Bilby Infatuation

 

Wrapped wire and fabric bilby sculpture : Wilma Simmons 2016 

Over the years I have been fascinated with the plight of the bilby and it has inspired quite a few of my cloth creations...

With long pinkish-coloured ears and silky, blue-grey fur, the Bilby has become Australia’s version of the Easter Bunny. Unlike the rabbit, bilby numbers are falling rapidly.
There were originally two species but the Greater Bilby is now commonly referred to simply as ‘the Bilby’ as the Lesser Bilby (Macrotis leucura) is thought to have become extinct in the early 1950s... Bilbies are nocturnal, emerging after dark to forage for food. Using their long snouts, they dig out bulbs, tubers, spiders, termites, witchetty grubs and fungi. They use their tongues to lick up grass seeds.
Bilbies have poor sight and rely on good hearing and a keen sense of smell. To minimise threats from predators they’ll mostly stay within 250m of their burrows, but sometimes roam further afield depending on the food supply.

from https://www.bushheritage.org.au/species/bilby

Bilby Girl Travelling Art Doll ; finished by Wilma Simmons 2013 

In 2013, I made Bilby Girl - a "travelling" art doll and  this doll made its last stop at my place in Australia. Bilby Girl returned to her owner , the original doll maker in USA. These "travelling dolls " would start off as a body, then travel somewhere else and get a head, and then onto another country to get arms and legs, and at its last stop the doll would be clothed and accessorised. 

Australian Bush fabric 

Fast forward to this year, and in the textile.artist.org  Stitch Club, Christi Johnson's  workshop was about sculpting personal mythology inspired by an animal.   Reflecting on personal  interest in Australian fauna and the recent climate concerns,  I chose the bilby - it was close to Easter too! 

Bilby collage : Wilma Simmons 2025 

I made a toile from some abandoned eco dyed cotton and I really liked it, so did a bit of stitching on the front, and closed its opening on the back with a fabric circle, fussy cut from an Aboriginal print. For the other, I chose a really bright pink cotton, referencing the chocolate bilby Easter treats which were sold at easter to raise funds for the "Save the Bilby"  campaign. On the front of the pink bilby, I embroidered a plant which I hope resembles Acacia gordonii  (a wattle) which is also an endangered species  The back features another motif from an Aboriginal print. 

Bilby and Gordon's Wattle Embroidery : Wilma Simmons 2025 

I had so  much fun making this little soft sculpture, which I why I went searching for my 2016 version, tucked away at the back of a shelf in my workroom.   This wrapped sculptured bilby is made with all reclaimed materials - wire, scraps of fabric, with plastic bags as stuffing,.. It's great  to reminisce about why you return to favourite subjects  and while these might  be fun projects, the reality is far more serious.... 

Currently, there are more than 169,000 species on The IUCN Red List, with more than 47,000 species threatened with extinction, including 44% of reef building corals, 41% of amphibians, 38% of trees, 37% of sharks and rays, 34% of conifers, 26% of mammals, 26% of freshwater fishes and 12% of birds .https://www.iucnredlist.org/

Save the bilby and other endangered species ... 

Bilby work in progress/reclaimed materials : Wilma Simmons 2016