I have some of my great aunt's stuff, and one of the pearl button cards says ".25" for 12 half inch buttons, if that helps. She died in 1970. Thread used to be all cotton, not polyester, but I'm not sure when the switch happened. I remember sewing polyester double knits (ugh!), in 1968. Maybe check the old Sears reproduction catalogs for prices. Sharon C.
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Elena House Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 10:26 PM To: Historical Costume Subject: [h-cost] Dating vintage sewing stuff Speaking of costume-related inheritances, I recently inherited my 93-year old grandma-in-law's sewing stuff--all of it, including some stuff she probably should have thrown away 50 years ago! But since I find old wooden bobbins with only a couple of feet of thread left on them fascinating, I'm definitely not complaining. There are some definite scores. I now own a Bernina 830 (original, non-computerized sort) along with 50 zillion accessories, and a beast of a White 844 that--if sheer weight of the machine is anything to go by--can probably sew through about 50 layers of heavy upholstery without even noticing. I haven't gone through more than about 1/4 of the fabric (a lot of it is still in storage halfway across the country) but my linen and silk and bizzaro funky 60s & 70s prints collections have already expanded greatly, along with my vintage sewing pattern collection (though sadly g-ma-in-law was about a foot shorter and much much thinner than I--sigh). And I now have every different kind of sewing notion imaginable, and cool vintage buttons, and so many spools of thread that I'm having serious trouble figuring out how to store it all. And the amazing antique laces that she inherited from HER grandmother..... oh, it is to drool! OK, sorry, I'll stop bragging. (See, there are advantages to the scarcity of modern seamstresses: if g-ma-in-law's daughters or nieces or other blood relatives had been into it, I probably would have lost my chance to go on this fun treasure hunt.) Anyway, looking through all these old sewing notions, and having an interest in history, I can't help but wonder how old some of this stuff IS. G-ma-in-law started sewing young, so for all I know some of these things could be 85+ years old, although I think most of the oldest stuff is more likely from the 50s and 60s, and I know there's plenty of stuff from the 80s and early 90s. So my question is, does anyone have any resources to suggest that might help me date some of this stuff? Or any highly specific memories, such as "in 1963 thread stopped coming on wooden spools and went up to $0.12/50 yds"? Or anything else that could help me to not throw away something cool? -E "yay!" House PS--as I go through the collection, I plan to start offering stuff that I don't expect to ever use up for free to anyone who is willing to pay the shipping. I expect to move within the next year or two, and I really really don't want to have to move boxes upon boxes of quilting fabric or 80s pastel suiting or appliques of someone else's initials.... PPS--uhm, yeah, no, not the antique lace. Mine. =} _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
