4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[chickencam]

My Grandad came over on Sunday and brought all of my Grans old sewing bits over for ED who is getting really into dressmaking etc.

 

She has got a big box full of lovely old threads on cardboard reels, they are some lovely shades and some of them are silk. Most of them when you give them a tug seem to snap pretty easily, we really need to know if they were always like this and will be stronger once sewn into a garment or if they have perished over time?

 

She also got loads of old knitting and sewing patterns, knitting wool and buttons, Oh so many buttons. My gran must have taken the buttons off every garment that she ever wore out, also her Grandmother was a seamstress so many of these buttons and threads could be over 100 years old.

 

We spent the whole day sorting through this lot and ED has sewn a lot of the more interesting buttons onto card so that she can find them easily if she wants them.

 

We also found my Dad's old savings tin from when he was a little boy, full of buttons of course

[Olly]

Sorry, I can't advise on the threads, but I had to respond on the buttons!

 

One of my favourite treats when I was little was to be allowed to play with the 'button tin', mum had two tins in fact and now I think about it, some of those must have been very old although not as old as yours. She always cut the buttons off old garments and saved them, and then went down the tin for a possible match when making something new. There were so many different sorts of buttons - glass, coloured ones, large ones, small ones and then some odd things like military cap badges that had found their way in there.

 

I wonder what happened to them ... my sister has one of the tins, I think, but I don't think it has buttons in any more.

[Vivihen]

They may be difficult and frustrating to use on a sewing machine; using them for hand sewing may work for something that will not get much wear and tear; use them for tacking; make your own fabric by chopping up the threads and covering dissolveable fabric in a frame thickly with them, perhaps cover with a sheer fabric, then free-machine quite densely to join all the bits. After the dissolve has been washed away you can use the fabric for collages, cards etc.

[Snowy]

Wow what a treasure trove!

I agree, the thread wouldn't be suitable for anything needing a good seam, or in a sewing machine, but would be OK for tacking, or low wear and tear decorative stitching.

[Minnie the Moocher]

They sound like interesting items in their own right.

 

Why not get a large box frame and make up a 3D collage with all the bits and pieces arranged in a pleasing way. Your family will always think of her when they look at it.

 

I've made one full of little treasures for my daughter's room and she loves it. It has coloured squares of fabrics and paper and objects we thought were interesting: acorns, lavender petals, a feather, a piece of honeycomb, etc.

[Plum]

Hi

Silks break easily but your stitches will be invisible. Its lovely to use on appliques.

[chickencam]

Thanks everyone

 

The idea of making a memory frame is lovely . We could use them also as suggested for craft and decorative items, so we will hang onto them and use them over the years and maybe pass them on again in the future.

 

I thought that we had sorted through all of her craft stuff when I sorted through her things with my aunty just after my Gran died which was over 10 years ago now . She was a real horder and i have quite a few boxes full of old knitting wool in my wardrobe which one day I will make into things, hopefully before it gets passed onto the next generation

[mostin]

My my grandma died the only thing I asked for was her tin of buttons . There are so many different ones in there that you don't yet any more. I add to it if I get a spare button for an outfit and it is fancy enough.