Sunday, November 10, 2013

Great Aunt Sarah's Sewing Box

Recently, my MIL gave me my husband's Great Aunt Sarah's sewing box.  Aunt Sarah died in 1977 so this box has been in the closet, untouched, for a long time. 
 
 
There is lots of tape on the outside of the box. Great Aunt Sarah labeled the box herself... "Odds and ends of spools of thread".
 
 
 
I wonder what treasures I will find in here???  (Thankfully, no cigars!)
 
 
 
 
Lots of old wooden spools of thread in various weights and colours...
 
 
 
 
There were a couple of spools of invisible thread, including the one in the picture below.
 
 
I had not heard of this brand of thread before.  Belding Corticelli thread was manufactured in Montreal, Canada and three factories in the US. You can read more about this company and the way they housed their employees  here.
 
 
I also found a few upholstery pins, two thimbles--one plastic and one metal, a measuring tape and a very fine crochet hook,

 

some elastic, ribbon, a zipper and some lace,

 
Snap fasteners and two unopened packages of "flexilace".  I remember my Grandmother's dresses had this on the hems of the dresses her dressmaker made for her.
 
 
 
 
Buttons, most of which were taken off clothes that were being discarded or used for other purposes, (maybe quilts???)
 
 
This was an interesting find...
 

It is a spool holder with a cutting blade on the outside.


There's a hole in the top for the thread to go through...




In the bottom of the box, some Christmas wrapping paper!


I have not done a stash report for quite a while.  I have been doing lots of sewing, none of which I can show you until after Christmas. Here is my stash report:

Fabric used in the last 4 weeks: 4.0 yards  plus 50 yards cleaned out of my stash! 
Total fabric used this year: 186.91  yards
Fabric added to the stash in the last week: 5.5yards
Total fabric added this year: 146.41 yards
Net fabric used this year: 40.5 yards
 
Until next time....
 
 
 
 

3 comments:

  1. What a wonderful treasure box. Fun, fun to dig through and see what all was in the box. Love the leaves in your header, especially since all of the leaves are gone. Hugs,

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  2. Oh, I'm so glad that box came to you! It is a real treasure to those who can truly appreciate it. Those sweet wooden spools, and the tiny crochet hook are just grand. I enjoyed your share of the contents ~
    :-}pokey

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  3. When cleaning out my mother's house I took away her wooden spools of thread. Most probably yours has thread not usable now. I took mine and put them in a huge blue canning jar, added a light kit and shade and now I'm reminded of mother every time I'm in my kitchen as the lamp is on the counter there. Enjoy your things.

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