num_pages: 384
description: It was quite fashionable among the ladies of Marie Antoinette's court to employ stilettos and punches for parfilage. They unpicked the gold and silver threads from the richly embroidered material of their gowns and cloaks. A set of bone bobbins was found in England with the Lord's Prayer spirally incised phrase by phrase along each bobbin's length. A clever French inventor designed a pair of scissors with eighteen different uses  screwdriver nail file cigar cutter ruler lid pryer buttonholder adjuster  to name just a few. These and many other artifacts and instruments of sewing weaving and spinning are considered from a historical cultural and antique collecting point of of view.Gertrude Whiting Honorary Fellow of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Fellow of the Institute Professional Neuchtelois de Dentelles describes and illustrates nearly all the paraphernalia accoutrements appliances accessories and doodads associated with all yarn and thread handicrafts from knitting embroidery and dressmaking to warp weaving batik making and lace making. Examples of winders scissors thimbles measures knitting needles crochet hooks bodkins punches sewing needles pins pincushions hoops frames bobbins shuttles spinning wheels and sewing machines are taken from such widely scattered cultures as Java ancient Egypt Victorian England and pre-revolutionary Russia. For each artifact the author gives a history of its invention an etymology its age lore use and a variety of literary and artistic sources in which it is mentioned or depicted.This unique work is extremely rich in illustrations including many photographs of objects from private collections. It will certainly awaken those who take these tools for granted to a new world of possibilities and will spur those who collect them on to new endeavors.
language: English
title: Old-Time Tools & Toys of Needlework
publisher: Dover Publications