OT word of the day

My mother had a tailor's ham. Think my little sister got it, along with her darning egg. I got the rest of her sewing box.

G> Tailor's Ham

A-Ha! I knew somebody would latch onto this and ask questions! I wanna know too! I do have some velvet scraps. Which you can have if rayon pile-silk backing would go with what you are doing. Since I dye the garment finished or in pieces rather than the yardage, I bet they would match your color scheme. (G)

One of these days I am going to make one myself. There is one down at the historical society that is scalloped fans scattered across a crazy quilt. Embroidered seams, and the fans are light colors while the crazy pieces are darks. All silk velvet, and backed with what appears to be bombazine. It dates from about 1880. Very drool worthy.

NightMist

Ooh! that reminds me, too. I have a darning mushroom >g< This is a fun thread >g< . In message , Ginger in CA writes

I started with collecting a yard of real velvet in the deep tones when I worked at the Fabric Store. Then it just grew. I have some black with gold beaded butterflies, some that look like flowers, some that is multi-colored velvet....and ....... some that is still a yard or two uncut. Oh dear, it's been a long time since I touched it. I _ DO_ know exactly where it is.

BEG/Trade/swap? if any of you have velvet scraps must be no smaller than 6" square ...I wouldn't mind your sending a bit my way. This year I hope to finish a few tops that are cut out and ready to be sewn now that I can sit a bit longer. Not a resolution..just a hope

Butterfly (Have been having a blast watching the Looney Tunes Cartoon marathon whilst KNITTING a bit.and doing catch-up laundry from a 3 day business trip )

What would you like in trade? e me Butterfly - Wings at cox dot net

Butterfly (Might just get it done by next Christmas)

Three of them in this house. Marion uses them quite often. All from charity shops or car boot sales, and I don't think any of the people selling them knew what they were for.

==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === ==== Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557 CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts

Since it got some mention, and I know that some people don't know what it is...

Darning Egg

An egg, ball, or similarly shaped tool used to keep the tension and weave or knit of already worked fabric even while further working on it.

By its name it is obvious that it is commonly used for darning. It is also used to keep the knitting stitches even when finishing certain knitting projects, like the toes of socks or the ends of mittens. It is useful when embellishing finished or premade portions of clothing items. For example, when adding embroidery to the little puffed sleeves so frequently found on infantwear it is invaluable.

Darning eggs can be found, both modern and antique, made of a wide range of materials. They may or may not have handles. While the stone or porcelain ones can be very pretty, the wooden ones are generally easiest to use. The wooden ones are not so heavy, and have enough texture to not be slippery against the fabric. Alternatives to the egg are the darning mushroom, which always has a handle in imitation of the stalk, and any number of smooth gourds.

One occasionally finds the false eggs placed under hens to try and encourage them to sit sold as darning eggs. These eggs come in a variety of sizes according to the breed of chicken they are intended for, all of which are usually smaller than the average darning egg. The materials are often much the same, though sometimes colored to try and imitate real eggs. The size differences can make them useful for working on children's and baby clothes.

In a pinch almost any smooth, hard object of suitable size and shape will do the job.

My mother often used a dried gourd for darning socks, though sometimes she used a burned out light bulb. She never had a real darning egg.

Julia > Since it got some mention, and I know that some people don't know what > it is...

Oh dear, I'm not hungry, but I sure expected you to say and I make them into omelets.

Oh, that one sounds very drool worthy! I am trying to picture this ....So, are the blocks basically light colored crazy blocks with dark fans appliquéd over. or are the crazy blocks alternate to the fan blocks?

I've got a big container of fancy fabric ... I really should sort it and start a crazy quilt of some sort. I'd like to do one with lots of embroidery.

A really fantastic CQ is the one in the Palace in Honolulu. IT was made by the Queen of Hawaii when she was imprisoned. I saw it about 12 years ago. It was displayed carefully in a Plexiglas box. I have a set of slides I got at the museum shop ... wonder where those are. Later, PAT in VA/USA

Pat, I just checked my basket of darners. I have a darning mushroom, and an egg on a handle. I have two eggs without handles. The latter three darners are quite old ... vintage I guess. One wooded egg is made of both light and dark wood and is very intricate in appearance. I do not know the name of this technique, but I think the egg is from Wales. From the small end, it has a checkerboard appearance. The curved sides are very pretty. Maybe John will know. By the way, the handles on darners are convenient for darning fingers of gloves! Yes, a fun topic.

PAT in VA/USA

I don't believe it was done in blocks. I have at least seen no sign of it. There are a few longish seams,

6-7 inches maybe, but I've not seen a right angle ever. Believe me I've looked! Either the whole of it was done as a single crazy block, or the maker was very clever with her seaming. I believe the fans are appliqued on. At first glance they are pretty random, but when you can look at the whole they are tumbling in concentric oblongs. The fans are light colors, with a couple of colors that may have originally been midtones. Now the fans appear to be white, very pale pink, various beiges, and an odd grey-green The crazy pieces are darks, all you see now are browns, very dark maroons, and blacks. Whatever they dyed the velvet with has not stood the test of time especially well. The beiges in the fans make me suspect anilines, they often fade to assorted shades of beige, or turn brown in darks. However it is possible that madder was used extensively also, or instead. Madder also turns brown with time. The colors in the embroidery have held up better than in the fabric, the embroidery is mostly golden yellow with touches of red and white here and there. Mostly simple stitches over the seams, cross stitch, herringbone, etc. except for the occasional worked flower. Also around the fans the seamstress allowed herself to get a bit fancier. You see some bouillan patterns, french knots, and lace style buttonholing around the fans. From what I can tell from what I have seen of the back, she used the flowers and perhaps some of the stiches near the fans to tack the quilt, instead of disrupting her patterns with ties.

For all that the colors have not worn well it is still lovely.

NightMist On Fri, 2 Jan 2009 22:57:15 -0500, "Pat in Virginia" wrote:

Sewing Cushion Sewing Bird

Women have been pinning or clipping the work to their knee so as to hold a fair bit of the seam straight to be worked on for centuries. This practice was especially common when sewing large items like skirts or sheets. At some point in the eighteenth century the practice became looked down upon as "common". However it was so practical that many women just didn't care. At some point prior to that the idea of using a fancy cushion with a fairly heavy weight in the bottom that could be set on the edge of a table, and have the work pinned to it instead of to the seamstress knee came about. As books gradually became more important, and books and periodicals on housekeeping and sewing became more common, admonishments from authors against the practice of pinning work to your knee were not infrequently seen. It would variously mark you as a low sort of woman, or destroy your health, depending on the author. Instructions for the construction of sewing cushions began to be published. Some number of cushions were marketed, many of which included things like pockets to put things in, fringes of beadwork around the bottom, carved platforms upon which the cushion sat, and sometimes a clamp arrangement that would allow the cushion to be clamped to the table rather than having to depend upon it being weighted. The idea of a clamp arrangement instead of a cushion appealed to some inventors, and a number of completely unsatisfactory clamping arrangements were marketed. None of them allowed the work to be repositioned quickly. Then somebody remembered the sewing bird. There are records of sewing birds as far back as the 17th century, but the were expensive and didn't really come into fashion until the late Georgian period. They allowed the fabric to be repostioned in the clamp with reasonable ease and speed. However they were still expensive, so cushions ruled. To this day sewing birds tend to be pricy enough that they are more regarded as a novelty than a tool, though in the mid to late 19th century they were moderately common. The sort of thing a professional seamstress or well to do housewife might own. Of course once sewing cushions and birds began to be _sold_ the whole topic took on a new slant. Not only would pinning the work to your knee destroy your health and mark you as an outcast in society, but _not_ pinning the work to your knee would as well. The work had to be pinned to a cushion or held by a bird. Charles Atlas probably read his mother's old sewing periodicals, for some of the ads for birds or cushions were accompanied by engravings of the bright and chipper woman with good posture sewing with a cushion or a bird, accompanied by a picture of the slattern with the work pinned to her knee, or the poor broken backed frail woman hunched over her unpinned work.

An explanation of how a bird works, with a note on the first one patented in America at:

While I do not own a sewing bird, I have employed my SM in similar fashion. It can work as a 'third hand' when I need to unstitch a seam. I just place the offending bit of fabric under the pressure foot, and hold the cloth taut while I wield my seam ripper. I bet most of you have done the same. Barbara, I don't always have time to read all the posts, but when I come across one of your 'wotd' posts, I always learn something new! Thanks.

PAT in VA/USA

. At some point prior to that the idea of using a

Batiste

A fine plain weave fabric.

After that much the sources begin to disagree.

It is apparently made of everything, used for any fine clothing and originally was created in at least four different countries. It is a finer version of muslin, cambric, lawn, dimity, and voile. It was invented by a man named Baptiste, it was invented at a convent, it was commissioned to be made by a mistress of the king of France, and it was invented by English weavers to give the local lacemakers a leg up on the Belgians and the French. With this kind of history it is obvious that a good many people think highly of the stuff. It is also obvious that it's history is so muddled as to be nearly impossible to disentangle. And it is difficult to know what anyone means when they use the name, unless you have already come to agreement on a definition.

When I say it, I mean a fine gauzey fabric made of cotton or a cotton-linen blend, that is suitable for a narrow scope of clothing. Mostly costumes, lingerie, special occasion infant's or children's clothes, and parts of blouses or dresses. It is usually too fine to be able to stand on its own unless it is layered or lined. That does make it useful for some embroidered laces, certain religious garb, and assorted work of that nature.

My most typical use of batiste is for a soft underlining in a garment that I want to have just a bit of extra body. For example, I used it in the tops of the satin dresses I sewed for DD's wedding; they were also lined with a light-weight poly lining.

Julia > Batiste

button gimp buttonhole gimp

Button gimp is just a thin heavy cord used to reinforce buttonholes. It can be used in either overstitched or welt style buttonholes. It adds a bit of stiffness to them, and can help prevent them tearing out. It is simply basted down to where the edges of the button hole will be, and then stitched over for overstitched holes. For welted holes it is more permanently stitched down after the welting fabric is basted or pinned in place. Then the welting fabric is just turned over the gimp and stitched next to it after the hole is cut and the welting pulled through.