Skip to main content

The Bottom of my Sewing Box

My sewing box is crammed full with all sorts of odds and ends. Threads for general mending, needles, embroidery skeins, buttons, safety pins, the quilting foot from my sewing machine, rotary cutters, scissors, beads, bits of aida, yarns of wool, knitting needles.  The general bits and bobs that stitchers tend to accumulate over years of crafting.  In fact I've managed to accumulate so much stuff that the first sentence should read "my sewing boxes" as I actually have two.

I recently had to empty them both out as I couldn't find my needle threader.  Now, the little red one is a relatively new addition so I sort of knew more or less what was at the bottom of that one.  Not my needle threader unfortunately, only some rather nifty dressmaking pins with hearts on the end and my glow in the dark embroidery skeins.

The blue box has been with me for the best part of twenty years so is slightly fuller and the finds at the bottom of that one were a lot more interesting. 

My very first stitched item ever.  A sampler that I stitched at school way back when I was 8 or 9 years old.  I had completely forgotten I still had this.  It's in fairly good condition for its age but could do with a bit of a clean.  Any hints and tips on how to clean old embroidery would be gratefully received as I'm really not sure if I should wash it or not.




This next picture is one that I finished in the early 1990s.  It's stitched onto a printed canvas.   This one needs blocking as it's kind of a lopsided rectangle at the moment.



This next one is the birth sampler I did for Eldest when she was born. Which reminds me, I have a Noddy birth sampler in a box somewhere that I still haven't stitched  for Youngest yet...  I really need to get around to that. 
Amazingly enough, I can remember stitching every one of these.  Just a shame I can't remember where I left my needle threader.

Bye for now

Olly



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How To Keep The Original Hem When Turning Up Jeans

Hi all, You’ve found the perfect pair of jeans but as always, they are 3 miles too long. I’m going to show you how to fix them so they fit your leg length perfectly.  Better still, I’ll show you how this technique will work with any pants or trousers with an original jean-like hem. Like these 511 trousers. You will need : Pair of jeans or trousers that need turning up Sewing machine Zipper foot Thread to match your jeans/trousers Tape measure or ruler Safety pins or plastic clips Iron and ironing board Pressing cloth Step 1 Stand up and try on your jeans. With the shoes you usually wear or the pair you intend to wear with them. This is important as the shoes you wear will make a difference to the size of the turn up you need. Turn up the bottom of each leg so the wrong side of the hem is showing. Then move it up or down until you are happy with how they sit on the tops of your shoes. Fiddle with them, turning them up a bit more or do

The Charity Shop Find & the Headache from Hell!

 Hi all I've always been a fan of charity shops. Even before they became a fashionable way to reuse or  repurpose other people's unwanted clutter.  To me, they have always been a gateway for feeding my addiction to vintage and antique sewing machines.  Like this one.  Isn't she a beauty? According to the markings, She is a New Home machine made in West Germany so I'm guessing she's a post war... maybe 1950s... electric sewing machine.    She has a bolt-on motor and the shortest electric cable I have ever seen on a sewing machine! Look at it! It's tiny! That's never going to reach any of my electrical outlets. I'm thinking that this vintage sewing machine was made to be in a cabinet... or a previous owner cut the cable for some reason.  Maybe their outlets were mounted on a desk and they didn't want long cables cluttering the workspace?  Who knows? One thing I do know, is this sewing machine is going to give me a little bit of a headache!    Why? Beca

A soft spot or OSMC

Hi there,  I was having a bit of a nose around a local second hand shop over the weekend and came across this: It was tucked down the side of some furniture, looking a bit sorry for itself, just sitting there all alone. Well, I couldn't leave it there.  Poor thing looks like its had a bit of a hard life. It's a Mundlos machine, originally designed to go on a treadle table judging by the lack of a tool compartment, little holes in the base just under the hand crank and the small groove just behind the wheel. The little holes and groove would have been for the belt attaching the machine to the pedal.  The tools would probably have been kept in the table. The golden badge is the Mundlos company's trade mark and the portrait is of Heinrich Mundlos, one of the company's founders.  The little switch to the side is a handy little gadget that pops the shuttle out of the bobbin compartment. Originally, this machine would have been decorated with dec