Edey's Vintage and Current Needlework

September 2008 - Posts

• Pinking with the Florian Pinker, and the American Pinker

  Pinking shears are a common accessory of sewing, cutting a saw-toothed edge on fabric to prevent it from raveling. It has been used for decorative edges on ribbons, and for bow making. I have to admit that I was never very good at using pinking shears, either because I didn't know how to use them or what I had was so dull they just wouldn't cut. I ruined projects when I tried to use them, because instead of cutting a clean edge,  the shear just chewed up the edge of the fabric. I've had this experience with new shears, re-conditioned shears and old shears.  I even have a pair that is too heavy to use and it is almost instant hand pain to even try. Well, I found a vintage tool on e-bay recently called a Florian Pinker that makes the task of cutting a pinked edge on fabric enjoyable. The Florian Pinker resembles a pair of shears in that it has 2 handles and the action is scissor-like, but there the resemblance stops. This Pinker has a fluted wheel that does the cutting, and it has a large smooth chromed wheel that the fluted wheel works against to do the cutting. It cuts like a dream. No hand stress and just zips right thru fabric. This is a well-engineered tool, you can tell that alot of thought went into designing it. I found this picture of it so that you could see what it looked like http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/florianpinker.php. (I haven't done business with this company so I'm not recommending them, this is strictly for the picture.) Also a month ago I found, in an antique shop, an American Pinker. This one does the same function of pinking fabric edges, but it clamps to a table edge and turns with a hand crank. It is very heavy, made of cast-iron and steel.  It has the same fluted wheel design, and has a little steel platform to hold up the fabric as it cuts. I think this must be fairly old, I haven't yet found information on it doing an internet search. But it still works as if it were new. I was thrilled to find it in the antique shop, and this makes another addition to my "going green" hand-crank tool collection. Edey Posted Sep 29 2008, 07:06 AM by Edey with no comments

• I Like Old Tools

  A favorite pasttime of mine is looking for antique and vintage tools of all kinds. Anything pre-/non-electric can catch my eye, even more so if it has a hand crank gear as it's working mechanism. These tools were meant to last a lifetime; well made, well designed, of woo, cast iron or steel, and made in such a way as to maximize the hand or foot power needed to get the job done. What are some of these examples?: treadle or hand-cranked sewing machine, egg beater, brace and bit drills,(don't know proper name for sure), meat grinders, coffee grinders, corn shellers, cherry-pitters, cheese graters; you get the idea. Looking around the internet at auction sites and sales sites it isn't hard to find these for sale. If they are intact it doesn't take much to get them working again. There is a peacefulness in working with hand tools. Woodworkers often develop a fondness for working with hand tools, for the fine work they can create; easier at the slow speed of a hand tool to judge when the right surface detail is accomplished than it is with a power tool. After a noisy day of working out in the public, it is a good feeling to pick up a piece of wood, make it into something, sand it smooth, paint or stain it and then stand back and see what you have accomplished. That accomplishment can erase away a ton of stress and negativity that the outside world has dumped on you. Needlework does that too. The rhythm of a treadle sewing machine is peaceful to me. There is little noise, no buzzing motor to listen to. It is a slow peaceful, calming pasttime. In the kitchen I find it just as easy or even easier to grab my hand crank egg beater for mixing up eggs, or cakes or pancake batter than to dig out the small electric mixer, or to set up my big Kitchenaid mixer. I'll save that for heavy bread doughs or cookie dough. The meat grinder clamps to a breadboard and easily grinds up bread crumbs, fruits, pickles, cheeses, hard-boiled eggs and meats. You can make some delicious spreads for lunches with the leftovers from a big roast. Before you think of buying another appliance think about hand tools; they don't need to be plugged in, they require little maintenance, don't have motors that burn out or batteries that need replacing, and will probably last for many more years. Edey   Posted Sep 24 2008, 09:10 AM by Edey with no comments

• The Piecin' Bag

  "....One time Mama came to see me ...later, after she went back home, she sent me out a great big flour sack stuffed full of (fabric)scraps. It was a gift that always meant a lot to me." "Different ones of my family are always appearing from one of these bags. Just when you thought you'd forgotten someone, will, like right here ..... I remember that patch. That was a dress my grandmother wore to church. I sat beside her singing hymns, and that dress was so pretty to me then, I can just remember her in that dress now." From "The Quilters, Women and Domestic Art", by Patricia Cooper and Norma Bradley Allen, 1977, 1989, page 75. The piecin' bag was a life saver for people during the beginning years of our country. Homesteaders that had little money and were far from the city made it a habit to save every scrap of fabric they had, and then sewed those scraps into quilt tops for warmth and beauty. Every scrap was precious, as good as gold. When a young girl was getting ready to be married, she would need quilts to start her new home. Out would come the piecin' bags to find enough fabric to make the quilts. There would be school dresses, and blouses and shirts stuffed in those bags, clothing worn by herself and others during her young lifetime. The quilts that she made from that piecin' bag was like a memory album that she could take with her. Many times the new bride went far away from family and could take little with her but her hope chest, so her quilts became a hug from home that she could wrap up in when times were bad. Those quilts would keep her and the new husband warm on winter nights, and when the babies came they would be wrapped up in them too. We should all return to the ideal of saving, and using scraps, like in the piecin' bag. The wealth and health of this country was built on the frugality and wisdom of those who saved and re-used everything that they could; it was considered a shameful act to waste anything. There isn't as much of a need for cash when you use and re-use what you already have. Will you have fond memories of a Starbucks coffee cup 10 years from now?  Edey   Posted Sep 11 2008, 07:55 AM by Edey with 1 comment(s)