Baseball has traditionally been seen as the national pastime, but for women that may be sewing. At least that’s what it feels like to me, based on the amount and types of vintage sewing items I find at auction.
Advertising needle packs. Needle cases. Needle threaders. Darning eggs. Tatting shuttles. Threads by the dozens. Sewing machines. Hosiery mending kits. Sewing mending kits. Pin cushions.
I’ve sewn in the past, making some of my own clothes and accumulating piles and piles of fabric that I’d eventually get to, buying loads of threads and stocking up on the tools that go with the endeavor. It is an endeavor, much more than a hobby because it can become an obsession.
I did it because I enjoyed it, but early on, sewing was what women did to clothe their families. I’m always coming across small sewing items – especially needle cases, needle packs and mending kits – handed out to women by companies advertising all kinds of services and products. Many of the ones I find tucked away in box lots are really rather pretty, and sometimes, I’ve had the hardest time figuring out what they were.
What’s a tatting shuttle? Had never heard of it. Or a darning egg? Can you cook it?
So, for the next two days, I’ve decided to rustle up some of these items from auctions. I’m starting with the needle cases and mending kits. Mine are pretty basic, but I found some beautiful old ones on the web. Take a look at these ivory Inuit needle cases, made by men for their wives, according to the website of the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
According to Collectors Weekly, sewers have kept their needles in ornamental cases for centuries. In the Victorian years, they were decorative cases made of sterling silver, bone, pewter, wood and other materials. People kept pins in small boxes until the 15th century, according to the site, until pin cushions became popular in the 1800s. One site said mourning pin cushions with black-headed straight pins were very popular at one point. I’ve never come across one of those.
Needles themselves go back even further, and are said to be more than 25,000 years old. The first were hand-made out of bone, likely made to sew animal hides together. By the 20th century, the process for making them took a few more steps.
The needle cases I found at auction were more 20th-century – made of wood, plastic, and gold-plated and silver-plated metal. I even came across a plastic one in dark military green with lettering indicating that it may have belonged to a serviceman. Another had the inscription “Lydia Pinkham Vegetable Compound.”
Curious, I Googled her name. Lydia Pinkham was a 19th century seller and marketer of herbs for what was called “female complaints,” and did quite well with the product. She was born into an abolitionist and anti-slavery family in Lynn, MA, who counted abolitionist Frederick Douglass as their friend and neighbor. She later joined the Female Anti-Slavery Society in her hometown.
Here are some of the needle cases and mending kits from my auctions, many of which still had needles inside:
Egg-shaped case with the inscription “Handy Darner and Needle Case.” Needles of various sizes can be placed inside, with numbers outside denoting the sizes. Turn the top piece to the number and a needle came out through the hole. There are directions for using it on the back.
Turned-wood pencil-like case. I really didn’t know what this was, but finally figured it out after twisting it apart.
Wooden cylinder case. This one (above) is very basic. It has large needles still in it.
Calvert Extra advertising sewing case. Companies apparently handed out lots of sewing paraphernalia to women. This one has a thimble and needles in it.
Gold-plated case with brush and scoop. This appeared to be a very modern mending kit with threads, needles, a safety pin and straight pins.
Two silver-plated cylinder cases. One was Lydia Pinkham’s.
Two colored plastic cases. One was for an employment agency in New York, the other a green mending kit for a hosiery shop in Philadelphia. These were mending kits with threads and needles.
Brass sunflower pin cushion. Use the lower round box for needles, threads and more. I also came across Asian-inspired and nautical-inspired pin cushions.
