I was determined to get this top sewn together yesterday. I had 4 vertical rows to sew on and then 8 horizontal seams. It measures 56" x 71" right now so I could finish it as a couch quilt as it is. 
I was cleaning off a shelf in the basement yesterday. These belonged to my mother. She did crafty things.
Do you remember when this was popular in the 1950s? That is assuming you were even born yet.
Here is something from the early 1960s. 
Do you remember when socks were called anklets and most people darned the holes in them? Obviously I didn't follow the rules; the package is unopened.
I love the prices on these items. However at that time we got paid 50 cents an hour to babysit and were lucky to make $1 an hour at a steady job.
Buy a new shuttle? I'm not sure if I understand that.
I'm wondering if these were from the days that treadle machines were popular. The needles have a flat back on the shank and I don't know if treadle machine needles did or not.
27 comments:
The Wooden tube was popular until the 60's. Some machines required a 17 needle not a 16 like we buy now. Most of those machines were treadle or the hand crank or the electrified machine with the shuttle bobbin. My Grandmother had one and I would go and buy them for her.
The darning thread was used at my house when I was growing up. Amazing how things change. Chris
Love this quilt top!
What fun finds! You must be in a big cleanout mode. I bet these would be very popular on ebay. I do love the quilt too. I've got a similar one underway as a leader and ender project.
Treadles indeed often use today's needles. My New Home (1915) uses a regular needle, flat to the side, and pulled out just a pinch. It is also a shuttle machine. Shuttles are pre bobbins. Where bobbins go round and round, shuttles went back and forth. The sewing plate on a shuttle machine will be narrow and all across the the machine.
If you Facebook, check out the Mad for Treadles group for lots of lovely pictures. https://www.facebook.com/groups/43656381612/
My machine, trying to show another person how to thread it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11688850@N04/4389762141/
What a fun post :) The quilt is really lovely!
that is nice seeing those things - I was born in the early 50's and I tell you babysitting rates where I lived was still 50 cents an hour in the mid 60's! I never made much that is for sure!
Your quilt is just gorgeous! I love the colors.
The older sewing supplies are so fun to see. I remember darning those socks - over lightbulbs!!!
thanks for that blast from the past, Wanda! I remember getting 50 cents an hour myself. and when we were little, our parents paid our babysitter a quarter, making her the envy of the neighborhood teenagers. her phone number was "1.9.8.8.W please" -- I used to call her myself to set up the babysitting job, talking to an operator, before there were even dial phones.
My mother taught my sister and me how to darn socks and I still have the darning egg we used to use! We used to mend our dad's and our brothers' socks - they were very hard on socks. She also showed us how she and her sister used to mend their stockings during the War Years with the teeny tiny crochet hooks. I don't know if I have any of those any longer. My mom was my Camp Fire leader when I was a child and we did all sorts of odd crafty projects that none of the other leaders did, like tin smithing and basket weaving.
Another of my favorites ! ! ! The grey with white dots is such a wonderful compliment to your zig - zag fabrics. Truly another show piece.
Nostalgia ~ what fun memories... And ALL in such excellent condition.
JJM
The quilt is wonderful. The zig zags are dancing across the screen. You pulled me back to my early years. Born 1952, got $.50 for babysitting, $1 when I cooked and cleaned. Gum was 5 cents.
I love that zig-zag quilt - the colours make me want to just sit and stare at it for a while!
Those wooden tubes of needles are such a treasure! What is the lazy daisy thing used to make?
Great memories! I have my mother's treadle machine - a White from the 1930's, and I borrowed my husband's grandmother's shuttle machine when I was newly married. She sewed clothing in a factory. Both machines sewed great!
Your quilt is lovely! It looks so different - more defined - than when you were building it - what vision you have to be able to see it as a finished quilt!
I love that zig zag! It is even prettier than I thought it would be all put together - makes me think of streaks of lighting through a gray sky. And what fun finds right there in your own place! I cannot even imagine what those things would cost today.
Beautiful zigzag, Wanda! I love the saturated colors against the dotted gray.
My grandma had a treadle machine, which was no longer in use except as a plant stand, but I remember rummaging through its drawers and finding what she called a shuttle. I understood it to be like a bobbin, but it looked different, sort of pointed on one end, as I recall.
Very cool stuff and another gorgeous quilt! As for the needles, the 1908 Treadle I use to make quilts uses that style needle. No idea when that started but I have a couple of those wooden needle holders as well…
Love the quilt top. Finding those vintage sewing things is so much fun.
I have a bag of the wooden needle cases. Some have needles and some have shuttles. The came from my grand ads old hardware store. Yes, early machines used shuttles instead of bobbins . A fun find..
I do remember anklets! And wooden needle cases
nan
I remember all of those. The round thing (metal) that when you turned the middle would have spokes come out of them. You would wrap the yarn around them, sew the middle and then turn the spokes in and you had a daisy. I made a few doll quilts with one of those. I wish I would have saved some of those things from Mom or even myself. I too never darned socks. Thanks for the memories.
Those little wooden cases were sold out of a round metal container. I have one that still has some of the the shuttles and needle cases in it. There is a metal arrow in the center that you turn to the size or number you need. When it stops, you slide open a door and the wooden cases are resting inside round holes with the larger end facing you. I hope this makes sense! My aunt and uncle had a hardware store and when we would visit, my sister and I would play with it spinning the arrow and opening the door. It sits in my sewing room and brings back fond memories!
I bought a daisy winder at an antique store a few years ago. I had so much fun learning how to make yarn daisies! Fortunately, it came with instructions.
Love your new Kaffe quilt! The gray dot background is perfect. I don't think there is anything you would do with Kaffe fabrics that I would like.
Love the quilt. The background is very striking.
I think you have nailed the shuttle to trendles.... Bonnie Hunter who loves old machines and has a few trendles in her studio would probably be able to tell you more about the needle cases.... I use to sit for 35 cents an hour. When this one family had the fifth child I got paid 50 cents an hour! It may not have been much but I learned to work and do a good job. I saved a lot of my earnings and went snow skiing - paying my own way.
Love your quilt. I don't remember the daisy winder or the needle cases. My mother had an old Kenmore, still has it. It sewed GREAT. We had anklets and we darned all our socks until they were totally worn out.
Thank you for the trip down memory lane.
I am a little foggy on this, but the old treadles did have a metal case that slipped in under the feeder plate. It held the bobbin. It had the hook for the thread that today is on the seat for the round bobbins. The bobbin was a long spool with discs at each end. I can't remember how we wound it. I wanted to learn to sew so badly as a child, that I began on my grandmother's treadle.
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