Girl's Own Annual Vol XLIV

Vintage Girl's Own Annual
edited by Flora Klickmann.

At the beginning of the year I showed you a
large vintage volume of a Girl's Own Annual.
I have been fortunate to find another this time
Volume XLIV. These Annuals are not dated but
they are from the early 20th Century.

I have chosen these two pages showing what

to do with scraps of ribbon and silk, projects
that I thought might interest you.
(click for larger image)

These delightful illustrations below are just some that
can be found in the Annuals.

Day and night-time wear for young girls.

SCISSORS ADS

....From

The Delineator
A Journal of Fashion
Culture and Fine Arts
published by
The
Butterick Publishing Co. (Ltd.)
London & New York
September 1896

Click for larger image

For those of you who love embroidered doilies,
(don't we all?) you must visit Gina at Patra's Place -
she has a fabulous collection of vintage linen,
embroidered doilies, aprons, handkerchief sachets, etc.
Gina is a fellow Aussie and dedicated collector of
all things linen related as well as embroidering
her own vintage doilies.

Children's Embroidery Sets

This time we are taking a little look at Children's

Embroidery Sets.

The Kiddies Embroidery Sets below are Made
in England, and contain - 1 piece of Material,
6 Embroidery Balls, 1 Needle and 1 Transfer.
Each box has one design to embroider - these are
Butterfly design or Birds design.
I would estimate the date as circa 1920's.

Below - inside one of the boxes - well, we are missing two
of the balls of thread but that is fine. For a very vintage set
as this, you would expect there to be some items missing.

Next is the Princess Real Embroidery Set dated 1939
by Standard Toykraft Products Inc. New York U.S.A.
It is numbered 205.

Below - showing Contents ~ Materials to
Embroider.
Also, a sewing needle, the sweetest tiny thimble,
scissors, and threads.

Next - Embroidery Outfit by Transogram Gold Medal
N.Y. Dated 1950 .
Complete Cloth and Napkin Set with "Ballet Girl"
motif.

According to the box top, it contains - cloth centerpiece, napkins,
embroidery hoop, colorful embroidery thread and accessories.
This has obviously had a lot of work/play and I would
guess that there has been some items added to it.

Below is a Hasbro Take-Along Embroidery Set.
1965 Hassenfeld Bros., Inc., Pawtucket, R.I., U.S.A.
Numbered 1515.

Again, this set has been well played with and other
items have been added.

Next is "Stamp and Stitch" Embroidery Set No. 723
Made in Italy ~ Multi Print ~ Milano.

This set has a slightly different approach to
embroidery. The stamps can be used to
make more pictures to be worked, plus
there are also some transfers.

Lastly, here is a free vintage pattern for you.

SEWING CARDS - PART TWO

We are having another look at
sewing cards - this time boxed sets.
These sets are all used and
are as found.

The box set below has been dated
as circa 1910 (according to Darlene J.
Gengelbach, the author of Encyclopedia of
Children's Sewing Collectibles - identification
and values). It is made by Parker Brothers (Inc)
Salem Mass. U.S.A. There should be 10
cards in the set and the set below has its
original 10 cards.

The pictures are pinpricked and quite detailed.
I would suggest that to sew these cards, the young
child would have been quite skilled. The set
shown in the book "Children's Sewing Collectibles"
are of animals whereas this set is - Objects - as
stated on the front of the box.

First Steps in Sewing - Germany
There are no further clues as to maker and date but
I would say circa 1910's.

There are only five cards in the box and I would say
that there would be some missing. Again, the cards
are pinpricked, small and detailed.

Below -
This set is dated 1950 - it reads "Copyright MCML by The
Saalfield Pub Co. Akron Ohio - Made in U.S.A."

There are eight cards in the box and are all
original and complete. (The cards are all pictured
on the box and around the sides).

Next is a set made by Ed-u-Cards Inc. U.S.A.

This set has a different approach in that you sew "card" clothes on
to a cardboard doll.
The set is also shown in the book "Children's Sewing Collectibles".
All dolls and clothing are still with my set but two
of the laces are missing. It has also been added to
with another two sets of sewing cards from other
sets of which I have yet to identify.

Below - Sampler Sewing Cards - box reads "Copyright
MCMLIV (1954) by The Saalfield Pub. co. Akron O.
Made in U.S.A.
There are 12 Sampler Designs, 4 Balls of Yarn,
Tapestry Needle, and Illustrated Instructions.

There are lots of designs to cross-stitch.
In this set, there are 10 cards, however, it has been added
to and there again, I have yet to identify all of the
other cards.

Next time, I will have a little look at embroidery
sets.

SEWING CARDS

SEWING CARDS - SEMCO

Sewing cards are a great way to start
a young child on the road to learning to
sew.


Semco in Australia, produced simple,
perforated cards with fun colourful designs - such
as animals and nursery rhymes and more.
See above and below - adorable
dogs, Wire Haired Terrier, Scottie, and
Westie.

Semco - from Stanley E. Mullen Co. was commenced
in Melbourne, Australia in the early 1900's and
produced paper transfers as well as
threads, embroidery patterns, etc.
The business was transferred to a new
premises in 1923 at Semco Park,
in Black Rock, Victoria, Australia. Much later,
the Company moved to Sandringham in 1978.
In 1983 it sold to Coats Patons acquiring
the assets and the name.

Below is one example of the doilies
that were available from Semco ready
to embroider - a delightful Crinoline
Lady Novelty Set.


There will be more sewing sets to follow soon.

Plain sewing sets.

This time I am taking a look at

plain sewing sets.
But just because the outside is plain,
doesn't mean that the inside would be -
although the floral pattern of this
set is really quite sweet.

Inside, we find a quite complete embroidery/mending
set. With no brand name on the outside of the box,
we only have the details found on the thread cards
telling us that it is Made in England. The silk thread
has the Duldarn brand on it.

This set has had little use.
It has a drawer in the front to hold the work in
progress - currently empty.
The brand name on the thread card reads Sewswell - Menda.
There is a sweet little button card of four green buttons, a
Blue Star Brand Finest Quality Needles packet, scissors, ribbon,
threads, thimble, fabric, and safety pins. This set
is also Made in England.

This set has two drawers in the front which holds
two children's handkerchiefs, - a rabbit design and
a crinoline lady design -
ready to be embroidered.
Inside, we find that this has had a lot more use than
the other sets. There are knitting needles, crochet hook,
thimble, many "Glister" thread spools, rayon
embroidery threads reading Swinden (Fancy Goods)
Ltd. Redditch, England,
and a blue "doiley" ready to embroider.
There is a gold foil oval pasted inside the lid
which reads "Sewinden" (yes, with an e)
Product - Made in England

I would say that this set has been added to.
Although it is almost complete with all of
its thread spools, thimble, pincushion, safety
pins, paper tape measure, "Floral" needle
packet - English Made, Best Quality Sewing
Thread cards - Made in England, and perhaps
missing the scissors. There are other
embroidery thread cards on the inside
of the lid, a Silcarn Mending thread card,
and Vicars Salome Tapestrie rayon thread,
plus The Albion AMG sewing and mending thread.

This again, has two drawers in the front
of the box holding cloth to
embroider and a paper pattern and
stitching instructions.

Next post, I will be taking a little look
at sewing cards.

Pincushions, Hearts, Wishbones, and Crochet!

I have had a few requests for patterns since my post on

Thimble Holders (Crocheted Wishbone Thimble Holders).
I have also had an email from someone who lost the
treasure (crocheted wishbone thimble holder with
a crocheted heart-shaped pincushion attached)
they were given by their grandmother and
sadly lost it in a house move.
I will be posting a pattern very soon
when I will be back home.
I have been away for the past week.
I hope that you will check back again - when I
am able to update.

March 2, 2008

I have had a search through my patterns and
while I do not have the same
pattern as the "wishbone thimble holder with
heart-shaped pincushion", I have what I
think is the next best thing.
I have found a vintage pattern for a crocheted
"powder bag", and instead of filling it with
powder, you could fill it with polyfiberfil.
It can be attached to the crocheted wishbone
thimble holder for which I have
previously posted the pattern.

Below is a pattern for a "crocheted pineapple
pincushion" which is from - Star Book No. 74 Fair
& Bazaar Suggestions - see further below.
The pattern does not give the finished size but if
you look at the cover picture, you can tell that it
would be approx. 6 inches long.
If you are a skilled crocheter, then you may be
able to adjust the size in accordance with the
wishbone thimble holder.

If you look again at the "wishbone thimble
holder with heart-shaped pincushion", you
will see that the crochet work is extremely
fine (pincushion 4 inches in length).
So a lot depends on the size thread and
gauge hook that you use as to what size the
finished item would be.

I have included a picture of some of my collection of
pincushions which shows a lot of these vintage
crocheted pineapple pincushions.
They all vary in size as you can see.

I hope that this has helped those who are
looking for crochet patterns for sewing accessories.
Don't forget to click on the pictures for larger image.

Two Vintage Sets for Children

Here are two very vintage sets for children.
The first I would date to around the 1910's
and no maker's name on this.
The condition of the outside of the box is
a little poor but the inside looks fine.

As to the contents of the inside of the sewing
set, it is as found, so I cannot tell if they
are original.

There two cards of sewing thread, two pairs of
scissors, two lots of embroidery thread, a card of
little buttons, part card of hooks & eyes, a small cardboard
threadwinder with thread, a packet of needles, more
buttons, thread spool, and two balls of crochet cotton.

Above is a close up of the picture on the lid of
the sewing set. It looks to me like this child is
going to do some gardening with a rake
and watering can.

The Toy Knitting Outfit below has wonderful graphics
on its lid.
It is actually a spool knitting set and is dated around
1910's.
This set is made by Milton Bradley of the USA.

On the lid of the box it says - This Outfit has given
pleasant pastime to thousands of children.

Inside the box we have three spool knitters, 2 original and
1 homemade from a small wooden cotton reel/spool, and yarn.
While I would usually place this on my other blog - spoolknitter -
I thought that you would enjoy seeing this set just for
the graphics.