Showing posts with label needle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label needle. Show all posts

Thursday, September 28, 2023

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

 

QUESTION: My grandmother loved to sew. She made her own clothes and some of those of her family. Over the years, she assembled quite a collection of sewing items. Some of the most interesting were the old sewing kits and baskets from the 19th and early 20th century. One thing I inherited from my grandmother was her love of sewing. I, too, love to sew. After she died, I got her collection of sewing items. I have no idea about the sewing kits and would like to learn more about them so that I can date them. Can you help me?

ANSWER: Before the introduction of mass-produced clothing, sewing was a way of life for every household. Usually, it was the women who took care of the making and mending of clothing. Your girls, required to master complicated sewing skills, used a variety of containers to hold their sewing tools.

The earliest sewing containers consisted of simple bags made of fabric or leather. But by the 18th century in Europe, metalworkers, jewelers, and other craftspeople had begun making fine sewing tools for ladies of the court who also required handsome boxes to hold them. Artisans used rare woods, leather, ivory, or precious metals inlaid with gems and mother of pearl on the outsides of their boxes and lined the interiors with silk or velvet. They fitted larger boxes with two or even three levels or sections.

By the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the rise of the middle class created a market for less expensive and more practical sewing boxes that were both attractive and durable. Inside, they tightly wrapped tools and notions made of steel, such as needles, pins, scissors, bodkins, buttons, hooks, and eyes to prevent them from rusting. They also used brown paper to protect delicate, colored threads from light and air, while shielding sewing silks from the elements by soft, washed leather.

A typical Victorian sewing box would be just big enough to keep all of a woman’s sewing tools, as well as a little bit of her handiwork. Inside, you’d find a needle book with a large range of sizes, along with an assortment of thread made of cotton, linen, and silk, plus buttons formed from shells, acorns, wood, and metal. Sewing implements included different types of shears and scissors, a pin cushion and needle emery, a jar of beeswax, and a folding measure or measuring tape. Some boxes even housed tools to make lace or square cords.

Victorian women considered their sewing boxes to be private—for their eyes only. Many of these boxes had locks, and ladies often kept love tokens, such as a romantic letter, a book of poetry, or an image of her beloved inside it.

Small sewing boxes known as étui in France and "lady’s companions" in England and Germany became very popular. These portable containers usually held basic tools---scissors, needles bodkin, and a thimble—required for sewing on a day trip or for a sewing circle:. Larger lady’s companions often held a small mirror, a tiny perfume bottle, a little New Testament, a lady’s knife, tweezers, or a button hook. Some containers took the shape of books with “Lady’s Companion” printed on the spine, while others resembled fold-up leather pocketbooks. Other whimsical sewing boxes had shapes like hearts, eggs, and flasks.

With the introduction of the first sewing machines in 1860, ladies discovered that their thread was too stiff to run through the new invention. As a result, George Clark introduced a six-cord, soft cotton thread for these machines in 1864, and branded it as Clark’s O.N.T. (for “Our New Thread’). In the late 19th century, the Clark Thread Company issued many sewing kits and boxes advertising this brand.

Small, lidded baskets—woven from cane, grass, rushes, willow, honeysuckle, or bamboo—also made suitable sewing containers. In 19th-century China, a bride would be presented small gifts in ornate baskets during her wedding. These baskets were exported by the thousands to the United States starting around 1880, and were popular as sewing baskets until around 1930.

By the beginning of the 20th century, baskets had become the most common sewing containers in America. Often manufacturers lined them and created spaces for a pin cushion, scissors sheath, and thimble holder sewn into the lining. Starting around 1930, wicker bucket totes became sewing containers for many women. These usually had cord handles and decal images of flowers, poodles, and sewing tools on their wooden lids.

Besides the more elaborate sewing boxes and baskets, many women created their own mending kits to hold all the necessary implements to sew or repair anything, anywhere. These mending kits also functioned as travel kits that people could easily pack and take with them.

During the 18th century, women made mending kits called “housewifes” or “hussifs” from scraps of velvet, burlap, or leather by rolling them into a pouch with compartments for tools. They also came in other forms like purses or satchels. Wealthier women purchased kits made of ivory, wood, or silver at finer stores. Mending kits included a small pair of scissors, one or more thimbles, a needle case, spools of thread, bodkins, stilettos, clamps, buttons, and pleat makers. 

During the first half of the 20th century, women often upcycled their old clothes into the season’s latest fashions by shortening skirts or changing hat trim. They completed this intricate work by hand, using tools found in their mending kits. Because these kits were small, ladies could take them everywhere. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "Coffee--The Brew of Life" in the 2023 Summer Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.


Monday, July 25, 2011

Solving the Ivory Mystery


QUESTION: I have a piece of scrimshaw which has been in my family for years.  I’d like to know how I can determine if it’s authentic or not. On the tooth are two American flags with 23 stars.

ANSWER: Trying to figure out whether a piece of scrimshaw is real or not isn’t that hard. Telling the difference between ivory, bone and plastic requires some close inspection. The high value of scrimshaw due to its rarity and artistic craftsmanship foster fakes.

Ivory, bone, and plastic each have unique characteristics which differentiate them from each other. Using a magnifying glass, look to see if the surface of the piece is smooth or lined. Plastic fakes are usually smooth. True ivory, on the other hand, has either crosshatched or parallel lines, depending on the type. Ivory pieces may also have delicate wavy lines.

How the ivory was originally cut is another indication of its authenticity. In the early 19th century, scrimshanders (those who carved scrimshaw) cross-cut their pieces. Newer ones cut theirs parallel.

The most popular and well-known form of scrimshaw came from whale ivory. Whalemen incised designs into the teeth of whales and often carved other pieces and whalebone into useful objects for their wives and girlfriends. Genuine whale ivory appears whiter and smoother than most other types, though whalemen polished even whale’s teeth since ivory isn’t usually smooth in its natural form.

As the whale trade reached across the Pacific, scrimshanders gained access to elephant ivory, which, unlike whale ivory, has a distinct parallel grain. However, if the lines are perfectly parallel, chances are that its fake ivory, made from ground up bone. Another type they used was walrus ivory which has dark spots on its surface.

Other indications of a piece of scrimshaw’s authenticity are the little mistakes and corrections made by the scrimshander as he handcarved it. Some modern fakers use computers and tattoo needles to create their designs, based on those on old scrimshaw pieces.

Those pieces that appear pitted are usually bone. And while not as valuable as scrimshaw on ivory, the craftsmanship is the same, giving scrimshaw on bone a value of its own.

The oldest test for ivory is to try inserting a pin, heated to red-hot, into someplace on the piece that is out of sight. If the hot pin dents the surface, the piece is plastic. If it smokes, the piece is bone.

Another way to test a piece is to look carefully for a single seam that goes all around the piece, indicating where the two molds containing the plastic piece come together. The surface will also appear much lighter in both weight and color which is consistent all over. Ivory tends to vary in color from both piece to piece and on the same piece. Some people claim that by holding a piece of scrimshaw to a person’s cheek, it will feel cool if ivory and warm if plastic.

To date a piece of scrimshaw look for identifying characteristics, in this case two American flags, each with 23 stars. The 23-star flag was only in use from 1820-1822, thus giving a clue to the date of the piece’s creation.

Read more about collecting scrimshaw.