Hi, My husband is a woodturner and he was asking me what an orts bowl is. So, now I'm researching since I've never heard that term before. I have found that it is a bowl to put pieces (short ends) of thread in. The bowl may have a pincushion insert and it may also have a lid. Could some tell me some history about this or where I might research it further on my own. What did the term 'orts' come from and what does it mean? Why would you save the short pieces of thread? Can you save different colors in the same 'orts bowl'? Any info would be helpful.
Barbara . . . you can discover what the term means by going here:
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've never used the term in my embroidery endeavors, nor am I particularly fond of thread ends. But there's lots of talk here about it so I'll let others describe how they use them. Dianne
I've always called those little pieces of left over thread "snippets." I have even gotten a ceramic jar that has the word snippets painted on it. as a gift.
I save those little pieces until I'm finished and a piece is ready for framing to fill in any single stitches that might have been left undone. Once I'm sure there are no holes to be filled in, the snippets get tossed out.
"Lucille" ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with
I know someone who had a clear Christmas tree ornament, meant to be filled with the years orts. We all thought it sounded like it would be fun but in actual fact, when full it was not particularly good looking. She didn't bother to hang it anyway.
I have a brass cricket box that I put the snippets in when I cut them off (little pieces too small to be stitched with). I empty the box as it fills up, also it's very convenient for sticking my dark chocolate Dove Promises wrappers in .
so... I don't save short pieces of thread. I imagine there are a few crafty things you could do with them, including putting them in when you make paper -- for extra color and texture.
That's exactly what I thought I'd do with my snippets. I use an old Pringles can and I put the date on it when I started - 1997!! The can still isn't full - but it's packed for sure and I give it a *turn* every once in a while just like the compost. I tried out the Christmas ornament thing and it was u g l y .. so I just keep adding to the can. Whatever will I do with them when the can is full?
I put mine in a big glass jar and pack them down, then mark a line at the end of each year. Once I start making some money, I'll put that figure beside the year--to me, that symbolizes how much that amount of stitching was worth to my family.
I have my 3-year-old trained to "respect the orts," because I put them on the arm of my chair until I'm finished stitching for the night and she is tempted to play with them. Unfortunately, the cats are not nearly as respectful of the orts as the child is.
I love orts. I'm an anti-packrat and relatively Zennish when it comes to possessions (non-consumables, that is), and I've never truly been a collector--until orts.
My understanding was that in certain social circles - say the Victorian era - when ladies went visiting they often brought their "fancy work" with them. It was apparently considered impolite to leave your little thread bits just tossed on the floor of your hostess' home (imagine that!) so the small pieces were kept in an ort container of some sort. You could then dispose of them at your leisure at your own home later. I've always heard them referred to as ort boxes, not bowls. I actually carry a very very small basket with a lid (the size of a quarter and about
1/2 " high) in my projects so that if I'm stitching at an orthodontist waiting room, school event, etc. I have a place for my scraps rather than putting them loose in with my project or dropping them on the floor.
I've never tried using them to fill ornaments or other ideas I've heard of here - I just toss them when I get home.
I have an antique mason jar that holds my orts on a shelf of my bookcase. It's kind of like an archeological dig. Some layers really stand out - they are big or extremely colorful or full of metallics. I also carry a smaller version with me in my stitching bag. It's a small glass jar, slightly bigger than a pill bottle, that I bought for 99 cents at Michael's. Has a glass lid on a bale, just like my mason jar. I decorated the lid with old-fashioned looking kitty sticker. Of course, I have no real plans for my orts. I just like knowing they are there and that the cats didn't eat them and that my DH isn't wearing them on the back of his pants anymore.
There are a few woodworkers out there making "orts" boxes or bowls. An member from my ANG chapter has a company with her DH, and they make laying tools and orts bowls, many with little pincushion tops. Orts are the little thread cuttings which seem to trail all around, over, under needleworkers. And, needleworkers, like knitters, and quilters - well, we all love our specialty gadgets (scissor fobs, neat laying tools, frames, and sometimes orts bowls).
Personally, I have a little 4" collapsible mesh cube that I use. It folds flat, and I keep it with the stitching stuff, pull it out, and have my own little porta-orts & sundries mini-trash receptacle. Even have the 5" or 6" size for knitting or quilting scraps. But, I do know people that buy the lovely hand-made orts bowls - just not me. The ones with a cushion on top that let you stick needles in are pretty convenient. Anyhow - they're seen for sale at some of the Needlework sales, some LNS, etc.
Hey - that's a great idea. Have you done any of the making a sheer fabric from all the thread scraps? Someone in my wearable art class brought in a piece - she'd stitched, adhered all these threads to wash-a-way Solvy, then layered it between some sheer organza, washed the Solvy away, and had the interesting kind of lace left.
Mine always seem too short to do much with, and I'm bad about saving the longer pieces - but might just start.
You would have loved my wearable art class. I just get stuck and then have to try and think more freely - hard to imagine ;^) At the last class, as I had cut out the jacket I'm working on - and laid out all the little horsies
- I just got stuck. Then the instructor and some crazies came bugging me - next thing - the instructor comes in with 3 bolts of shimmery, sheer organza
- for me to do some layering, and they're yelling at me "Ribbon - you NEED RIBBON - you have to play with RIBBONS" . So, I bought a yard of 2 of the organzas, and next day (of course while still on sale) bought at least 15 yds of various, amazing ribbons. Lord only knows what I'm doing with this - but hopefully I have some ideas. I was already making bias strips. So, maybe I'll do some of this threads in layers as part of the background.
For anyone interested - I'm getting my new photo links, etc. put together. Should have some pix up over the weekend. The jacket is from a Simplicity pattern - asymetric, mandarin collar, comes to just below the waist. Making it - well, the background "carrier" fabric is a hand-dyed deep purple, and the decorative elements are "mythical horses" by Laurel Birch (colorway is kind of a rich, olivey green backgroun, with jewel tones in the pattern). The horsies are fussy cut, and kind of romp from the lower right back, diagonally to over the Left shoulder - with a pair meeting face to face. I did a pocket cutting a decorative, different shaped set from another panel in the set. The collar, cuffs, and bias strips are made from a hand dye in purple, blues, some pink = with a little pattern of squares hidden in it. I've now decided to essentially layer a mountain-scape (like a mini-art quilt without the batting) behind the horses so they don't look like they're floating on nothing. And the organza will be used to sort of give some cloudy effects, and also for some of the horses to be layered behind so they recede into the background. Still don't know what the ribbon will do, but I think as I play more - it'll get done.
Lining the jacket (as it's a lightweight one to just throw on with jeans, etc) with an oriental fabric - exactly the right colors - and a surprise lining. Plus, I got it on the $3.88 table - yup, if you have patience, and access to a G-Street Fabrics store, they have this section with a lot of fabric for $2.97. Sometimes it's great stuff, sometimes, well, it's a mess, and they have a table in the quilting section for $3.88/yd - usually non-reorderable bolts. I lucked out.
I`ve done this just using metallic thread snippets/orts - it looks much nicer than the thread ones! they end up the same as when you mix too many colours of paint - just muddy looking.
That's the way to go. I think metallics with just one color group would look good. It would take a very long time to fill one though unless you were stitching on a monochrome piece.
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