Saturday 1 March 2014

Granny's sewing box


I also have this. Also an antique. And no. I don't sew. The nearest I come to that kind of thing is using iron-on hem-mending stuff to ...well....  mend hems. It's also good for fixing trouser pockets. John's trouser pockets regularly wear out, and he ends up with his socks full of lose change. So, I just stick the broken ends of the pocket together, and voila! The only problem with this is that over time, the pockets get shorter and shorter. Then it's time for new trousers.

I do occasionally sew on buttons.

I think that may be Granny's old pin cushion the right, but I can't be sure. I also have ber thimble, and I used to have lots of the fawn thread she used for mending her stockings. Not sure what happened to that.

(I've just spoken to my daughter about the bath mat mentioned in my last post. "What, that manky old thing?" she cried. She says that when I die, she will throw it in the bin. But I told her I was leaving it to B. That's her told. Ha.)

19 comments:

  1. Hello Frances:

    We are afraid, very afraid, for you are beginning to sound like a very accomplished needlewoman. And clearly, visibly, you have a store of different coloured cottons.

    And if sides are really being drawn up, then now we find ourselves siding also with your daughter.

    Jó hétvégét! Incidentally, we should love you to join us, with or without needle and thread!!

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  2. Perhaps you could darn the bath mat. It would be as good as new and they would be fighting over it.

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    1. Come on, Adrian. Surely you know me better than that?

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  3. I have a tin where I put all the spare buttons which come attached to clothes or fall off but never can match up when in need to.

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    1. Ooh. That reminds me. I had my mum's tin of buttons. I wonder what happened to that...

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  4. What a lovely thing to own. I have my mum's needle tin which once held toffees, her silver thimble that she won in a sewing competition and I have my aunt's darning mushroom! Maybe I should use the thimble, then I wouldn't bleed over everything I sew!! x

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  5. You sew on buttons? I am impressed! The last time I sewed on a button was... let me think... at least 5 years ago, and that was only because it had come off a favourite top of mine (pink satin cheong-sam - I can see you cringe) and I did not want to give up that top. Usually, before I sew on a button, I rather buy a new item and put the old one in the bag for charity.

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  6. I am worried about what you're found to show us next, Frances... Granny's hair net?

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  7. I sewed a button on once. I got it firmly attached to the shirt I wanted it on. Unfortunately I also got it pretty well fixed to the skirt I was wearing.

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    1. I've done that too, Patsy. How comforting, knowing I'm not alone.

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  8. Now that's an heirloom I would keep, if only for the box.

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    1. It's very tatty, Maggie. It may have to,go...

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  9. I have my granny's sewing table which I inherited somehow. I still have some orange thread on a wooden spool that is probably from the 1950's but my favourite possession is an empty tobacco tin that was my granddad's that had become a pin tin.

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  10. Well, Frances, now that I'm back from Oz and can catch up I'm wondering how I could have missed a 1 March post. Anyway I was just going to say that I have the sewing cabinet that my Dad made for my Mum when they got engaged or married and it's still full of all my Mum's sewing things just as the day she left it. Occasionally I do pop into the loft to get a particular cotton or if I need a safety pin (I wonder if youngsters know what they are). By the way I tried mending my hems on a particularly badly finished pair of trousers with that double sided iron on tape. You obviously managed to get a better brand than I did. Mine wouldn't work. And, yes, I may be a man but I did read the instructions.

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