Wednesday, September 14, 2011

A Story of Thread..."Issued by the Educational Bureau of Coats & Clark Inc." in 1958. A "Reprint from Stitch in Time Vol. 29 No. 1".
This eight page leaflet tell us more about thread and needles than you could have ever imagined. It involves Napoleon, the Crusaders, the Bayeux Tapestry, "nun's work", the spinning jenny, and of course the history of Coats & Clark company. (Do you know what "O.N.T." stands for?)
Then we get to look inside a modern thread plant. Remember this is from 1958, but I imagine many of the steps are the same today. And I never knew that Mercerizing meant that the threads are run through a caustic soda bath, did you?
The threads that are shown include everything from everyday sewing thread to rug yarn and industrial thread that is used for (among other things) car tops!
Last but not least we learn about Needles of all different sizes and uses. Do click twice on the images and read through this...you might win a trivia quiz at your next sewing bee!