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| Susan Bristol Jacket from Google Images |
That was then, and now I wouldn't be caught dead in such a garment. I also found about two dozen partial spools of thread with matching bobbins.
I decided to make a quilt with the squares and odd lengths of thread. My reasoning was that a quilt of many colors could be sewn with threads of many colors. Quilt seams are pressed to one side, not pressed open as in normal sewing. The reason for this is to prevent batting fibers from working their way out through the seams. The color of the thread is hardly noticeable when seams are pressed open and would be completely invisible with seams pressed to one side. I arranged my 725 squares into a pleasing pattern and began sewing.
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| There were so many almost-gone spools. It was a little annoying to continually toss empty spools and re-thread the machine, but I was committed to this upcycling project. |
I was running through the thread at a pretty good clip until I found a spool of peach colored polyester. I remembered this old, wooden spool. It was almost full. The only thread missing was used back in the mid-1970's to make a bridesmaid dress.
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| Me in My Homemade Attendant's Gown |
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| Using wooden spools for home sewing thread began in Scotland in 1820. At first customers paid a deposit on the spool. It could be refilled time and time again, like a soda bottle. Spools were included for free with a thread purchase once mass production made them cheap enough to throw away. Then enterprising individuals collected them and sold them for kindling. Eventually, wood was replaced by metal and metal replaced by plastic. |
I was surprised to learn that these wooden spools, both empty and full of thread, were collectible. I was even more surprised to discover so many articles about the history of thread. There are a lot of thread geeks out there.
My spool of Belding Corticelli has lots of history and a little bit of mystery attached to it. Belding brothers, Hiram and Alvah, began selling silk thread from their home in Michigan in 1860. They became so successful that a third Belding brother named Milo, who lived in Massachusetts, started manufacturing thread to supply his brothers. After starting up two factories in Massachusets, the Beldings opened a mill in Belding, Michigan. Belding merged with Heminway Silk Company in 1925 and shortly after acquired Corticelli Silk Company. They operated as Belding Heminway Corticelli until 1932 when the Michigan operation closed.
So, what happened between 1932 and the 1970's when I purchased my Belding Corticelli thread (and beyond)? As far as I can tell, in 1932 Belding Corticelli moved production or sold it's name to a mill in Putnam, Connecticutt. That mill closed in the 1950's. Manufacturing of Belding Corticelli thread went from Connecticutt to Hendersonville, North Carolina after the closure of the Putnam mill. In 1960, Belding merged with Lilly Threads located in Shelby, North Carolina. In 1997 shareholders of Belding Heminway Company, Inc. voted to sell the thread division to subsidiaries of a British company, Hickings Pentecost, PLC. The thread company was renamed Carlyle Industries, Inc., and Hickings Pentecost retained ownership of the Belding name. Today Hickings Pentecost is out of business. It's a wild guess on my part that Coats owns the Belding name today though it doesn't seem that any thread is presently marketed under the Belding Corticelli name.
Having incorporated the Belding thread into my quilt, I now have to decide what to do with my vintage spool. Should I keep it, sell it on Etsy, use it for kindling? I'm leaning toward building a roaring fire in the chiminea and making a little ceremony of tossing in my spool.
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| Mike and His New Quilt |
If you want to read more about it:
http://info.fabrics.net/vintage-thread-chart/
http://www.belding.michlibrary.org/our-history-1/belding-brothers-company-silk-manufacturers.html
http://www.athousandcountryroads.com/category/personal-history-business
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