Okay, this blog has a misleading title!
Well folks, it’s almost New Year so I’m rounding 2010 off with an unusual blog about embroidery threads from yesteryear.
Last week, my fiancé, Mike and I went to visit his aunty and take a Christmas card that I had made for her. Since her husband went full time into a care home, she lives on her own. They had just downsized their bungalow and for anyone who’s been married for sixty-one years, they had accumulated a lot of stuff.
Mike’s aunty used to be a fine needlewoman but recently she developed cataracts and now she cannot see so well. Over the last few years I have received many gifts of books and fabric from her which has been most useful. Whilst we were chatting over a cup of tea, she asked me if I would like some embroidery silks!
Never one to look a gift Chocobo in the mouth, I said yes, so off she went into the other room to find them.
What she came back with was a bag full of embroidery skeins and I have to ashamedly admit that I squee’d with delight when I saw that the silks in questions were Anchor! ^____^ What can I say, it’s my working thread of choice!
On closer inspection of this booty, the first thing I noticed was that the paper tubes around the skeins were very different; I would certainly say that these skeins date back to the 1960’s! The second surprise is that some of the numbers are no longer in the current Anchor range!!
Another treat from yesteryear is a blackwork booklet that she also gave me, which I also assume is circa 1960! It's probably a little old fashioned for my liking, but it might inspire some fill patterns:
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| Modern embroidery circa 1960! |
The skeins themself seem to be in really good condition for their age, so it would be a crying shame not to use them. With the promise of more silks to come, I am now trying to track down a chart that will convert the old numbers to the current numbers (apparently, the current numbering system was introduced in the 1970's).
In comparison, lets compare today's Anchor silks!
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| Modern embroidery circa 2010 |
Quite a difference, but as those growing up in post-war Britain would have said, "don't throw away the old for the new ... make do and mend!!!"
How true!
Oh, and here's a picture of the Christmas card I did for Mike's aunty:
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| Scandinavia style Christmas card |
So that's me signing out on 2010 ... see you in 2011!!! xx
That blackwork pattern book is so cool! I'm a little surprised that Anchor changed their numbers, though. I've found some 19th century DMC stuff on the Antique Pattern Library and the numbers were the same, so I'd sort of figured it as an industry standard. The colors you got are so nice, though! Also, the card you made came out really well. I hope it was well liked! Happy new year!
ReplyDeleteI was rather surprised too when I first found that out and now I'm curious to find out more about it although tracking stuff down on the internet hasn't been easy.
ReplyDeleteI've emailed Coats regarding the old numbers to see if they can help, I hope they can!
The card was well liked - I made all my Christmas cards this year and I shall be posting them on DA shortly!
Happy New Year to you too hun, hope you had a good one ^____^ XX