Whenever I see sewing things in a museum gift shop I take note, because that's not where you generally find your needles and thread. Rivaling anything in my home fabric store is this array of notions in the gift shop at Blenheim Palace, the grand estate of the Dukes of Marlborough in England.
I would love to have some of these pins...especially the black bulb pins and the entomology (you know those beautiful bugs pinned onto display boards...), the collarless safety pins for pining tags to my weaving samples. Have friends who are lace makers (weavers) and they would love the Spanish Lace pins.
ReplyDeleteDon't know about the toilet pins??Cool!
Beth
Fascinating, just a pity there was not a sample on top of each box then one might be tempted to buy a greater variety, working on the premise.....' you never know when you might need a **** type pin'.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think I need to stop there next time I am up and down the country! I am always needing another kind of pin, you never know. My glass headed ones are all stuck in a pincushion by colour - then if I am sewing black I use black, etc! and after you have used fine silk pins, the rest feel like nails. I expect toilet pins might have been for when one was 'at their toilet'?
ReplyDeleteOh wow! They have a website http://merchantandmills.com/products/pins/ If you click on each type, it gives you more information about the background of that type.
Sandy
Fascinating! Who buys them? I'm sure quilting tourists take some, especially if they've ever used silk pins. Seeing "below stairs" indicates that these were used by the household staff keeping all those "above stairs" people's clothes in good shape.
ReplyDeleteDon't shoot me Kathy, but I actually bought those exact pins today.! I saw them at Modern Domestic In Portland and decided I should try them out. I am a bit of a pin snob. I believe that particular projects are easier with certain pins. Now, I feel sheepish....
ReplyDeleteHey, don't feel sheepish -- I would have bought them too if they hadn't wanted $10 a box! I'm a pin snob about Clotilde glass head pins, which is getting more difficult these days now that they're not in retail outlets.
DeleteSo which ones did you buy?
At the other end of the spectrum are "office pins" - used instead of staples to hold papers together, how quaint. About 20 years ago I bought six boxes for the princely sum of 10 pence each, original price 60p a box - "plated steel pins", a quarter pound in each box. After giving away some boxes and using some of the pins in various projects and losing some, somehow, still have two boxes in the drawer. Sandy mentioned that, after using silk pins, others feel like nails - these ARE nails!
ReplyDeleteDear Kathy,
ReplyDeleteI was there about 3 weeks ago (La De Dah!), and was also very impressed with the sewing notions department. Didn't see anything I needed, but it was cool. All I bought was a pencil.
all I bought was a handful of erasers that said "Blenheim Palace" -- good gifts for my art pals
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