Vintage Sewing Supplies

Another post to show you some more finds from vintage shopping, then later this week I'll have a new mini-quilt to show you.

I bought this sewing basket on the same day I bought my wooden decoupaged purse, at the same flea market.  Like that wooden purse, I had only seen photographs of these before.  The dealer bought it at an estate sale, which means it most likely had just one owner.  I was so excited to be the second.  


If you haven't seen these before, they're about the size of a hatbox - 6" tall and 11" wide.  They come in a variety of pastel colors, and two styles.  This one has a knob on the top; others have strings that lace through the top and bottom.  I guess the idea of the laces is to keep the lid from getting lost, but they look like they'd get in the way, so I like this knob version better.

I bought the wooden spools at an antique store.  I really like that reddish-brown one.  I wonder what kind of wood that is?  Some of the spools were made by Belding Corticelli and some by Cutter.

These spools are original to me, bought when I was learning to sew.  I keep them separate from the others, for sentimental reasons.  The companies are:

• Belding Cordicelli
• Talon
• American Thread Company
• Coats and Clark

Guess I made lots of red clothes.  Maybe that's why I don't like red now.

The Sewing Susan needles are also from my early sewing days.  The "salt" needles are from an antique store.  The Worcester Salt Company was founded in Warsaw, New York in 1894 and taken over by Morton Salt in 1943.  So this needle package is pre-1943.

You can tell that I got my use out of those needles - most of them are gone.  All of the "salt" needles are intact.  Well, sort of, as you'll soon see.

Notice that the Sewing Susan needles are "nickel plated rust proof".

Egads!  Look at the rust on those needles.  Poke yourself with one of them and you'll need a tetanus shot.

This needle package was designed to be folded in half.  You can see the score mark down the center.  

Dix and Rands needles were popularly used by many other companies as promotional items.