TAKE A LITTLE TIME TO MAKE IT PERSONAL
The older I get the more fascinated I am with the efforts and accomplishments of my ancestors. Faced with difficulty and few of the finer things of life, the women managed to create beauty in small ways. I suspect that their small, personal, beautiful, unique efforts . . . especially in the field of needle-craft, brought them satisfaction in a world where there was little variety in available materials.
Every sewing woman, and they were all sewing women, guarded her precious needles in a “needle book”. They were smallish, fabric books with equally small pages designed to hold needles. They were easy to carry in an apron pocket since a woman was always sewing.
I made two books for myself.
The book above and just below is an embroidery floss book.
I chose old-fashioned-looking fabric.
I sewed small plastic bags at the center to hold the thread by color.
I added a stitch around the edges.
This doily was crocheted by my grandmother.My mother had it until her own death.
I tacked it to the book by hand in the very center
using small stitches which are hidden.
I added an assortment of buttons.
When I am finished with its contents I can roll it up
and tie it with an attached ribbon.
This is an example of a needle book. It is about 4″ by 6″.
I added the bling button and elastic to close the book.
I scalloped the edges of white felt and sewed a border.
These two books, along with other sewing things
fit inside of a sewing bag I also made from unexpected materials.
Perhaps someone is wearing this bag right now. Well, not wearing this bag
but wearing a pull-over cold-weather shirt made from the fabric.
I thrifted such a shirt and cut it apart. It was a deep and bumpy pink
and had plenty of fabric.
Then, I chose some fabric for a lining which I sewed in by hand.
( This is the bag turned inside-out. )
I made a little pouch to hold full-size scissors
and sewed it in before I finished the lining.
I wanted some small scissors to fit inside, too.
I tied them on with lace and let them slip down to the bottom of the scissor-pouch.
“Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children’s faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup.”
(Verse One of BARTER, by Sara Teasdale)
