I am a sucker for miniatures so I love these tiny little sets of fine J&P Coats silk "hosiery finish" mending thread in leg-like shades of tan and taupe and brown and black. And I love that we all used to need this stuff because "nylons" --or indeed, if you were lucky/rich, silk stockings --were costly and needed to be kept going, especially during the Depression--and these kits date from the 1930s. There are 10 half inch spools, each with four yards of two end two ply silk in a 3.5 by 1.5 inch box, complete with needle. My fave by far is the used one, heartbreakingly left as if just put aside for a minute--in the late-1920s. These are fairly easy to find on the secondhand market, but will become more highly valued. I hope.
Adorable little boxes of black or white thread: "enchantillons gratuits" (free samples) given out by haberdashers in the 1910s. The one-inch wooden spools are unused, but only... View full details
I found these 1970s Virginia Slims adverts thinly disguised as needle books a whole lot funnier before the 2016 election. Still. Hard to resist a... View full details
I just don't know. Is it some 1950s antifeminist thing? Or do they mean these names in a positive, Wiccan sense? Well either way, these patented little... View full details