Vintage Crafting and Sewing

Vintage safety pin dolls and ornaments.  I found the whole bunch at an estate sale and there has been NO interest at either the antique shop or the flea market.  So, the last time I brought them home I nearly decided to either throw them in the trash or give them to the thrift store.

Glad I didn't.  See what "Flea Market Style" says about this genre.

 BTW, I completely disagree with their definition of "ugly crafts".  How can something be ugly that was made with little loving hands back in the days before the internet and "Made In China"?  I personally made many a pathetic potholder with my weaving loom and produced yards of knitted tubes I had no idea what to do with using my Knitting Nancy (yes, I know now that I was supposed to make them into potholders but no one told me that).

FYI, I do NOT sew.  My husband does.  Back before I married him, if my skirt hems started to come unstitched, I'd just safety pin them back up until I actually resembled one of those safety pin dolls.  Even though I have major dental issues, I still chose my husband with his ability to sew over the other guy I was dating at the same time, a dentist.  Well, plus the dentist turned out to be married, too . . .

This is a wonderful, very old and well-loved spool holder with some VERY old thread.  

In the same out-of-the-way shop where I found the spool holder, I found this vintage Made In Japan Miss Durham sewing machine with foot pedal.  Very cool.  I did pass up the Holly Hobby and the John Deere toy sewing machines, which are much more common than this one.

(Also check out one of my new cake carriers!).

Do you know what these are?  I do, but it took some major explaining for me to understand how they worked.

I also hate to iron.  This could be the result of being forced to iron my Dad's dress shirts when I was kid and back in those days, he only wore long-sleeved shirts to work.  I HATE IRONING LONG SLEEVES!  Even the prospect of being paid a whopping 5 cents per shirt didn't make me any more eager to spend half my Saturday pressing his freaking wardrobe.  But of course I was given no choice, and if I complained too much, I then did it for free.  Slave labor now, teaching me a lesson back in the day.

In addition to this cool iron rest, I found an amazing old wooden ironing board on my Missouri trip that will be part of a vintage household tableau one of these days.  My next goal is to find a vintage pink iron.  They're out there, but stupid expensive, especially for someone who has absolutely NO INTENTION of using it.

Speaking of trying to recapture your youth through eBay, I just got a pair of Snippies.  Who remembers Snippies?

Have a fabulous weekend!