page_title: Thimble
section_title: Known thimble makers
hierarchical_section_title: Thimble / Known thimble makers
caption_attribution_description: "Uniform Measure/Stack" (1997) by Stephen Cruise, a giant thimble resting on a stack of buttons on the northwest corner of Richmond Street and Spadina Avenue, commemorating Toronto's Garment District in that area.
context_page_description: A thimble is a small hard pitted cup worn for protection on the finger that pushes the needle in sewing. Usually, thimbles with a closed top are used by dressmakers but special thimbles with an opening at the end are used by tailors as this allows them to manipulate the cloth more easily. Finger guards differ from tailors' thimbles in that they often have a top but are open on one side. Some finger guards are little more than a finger shield attached to a ring to maintain the guard in place. The Old English word þȳmel, the ancestor of thimble, is derived from Old English þūma, the ancestor of the English word ‘thumb’.
context_section_description: Most of these thimble makers no longer create thimbles.
  Avon Fashion Thimbles
  Wicks (Inventor USA)
  A Feaù and René Lorillon (French)
  Charles Horner (UK) (1837–1896)
  Charles Iles (UK)
  Charles May
  Anthony Stavrianoudakis (GR)
  Gabler Bros (German)
  Henry Fidkin (UK)
  Henry Griffith (UK)
  James Fenton (UK)
  James Swann (UK)
  Jean Levy (France)
  Johan Caspar Rumpe (Germany)
  Ketcham & McDougall (USA) (out of business 1988)
  Meissen (German)
  Roger Lenain (French)
  Samuel & Foskett (UK)
  Simons Bros Co (USA)
  Stern Bros & Co (USA)
  Waite-Thresher (USA)
  Webster (USA)
  William Prym (Germany)
caption: A 9-foot high sculpture of a giant thimble resting on a stack of buttons, commemorating the garment district in Toronto
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