Cotton from a bygone era.

My increasing obsession with vintage has been fuelled by the abundance of seemingly upended sewing boxes in local charity shops, yet no sign of the original baskets or boxes they were sold in.
What happens to these boxes, a staple of family homes of a previous generation?
These would have been boxes of a certain age, handed down through generations, only to be discarded by the new throwaway generation.
A trawl  through https://www.etsy.com revealed that while the UK may not appreciate these treasures from a bygone era, there are some truly beautiful wooden sewing boxes being sold in Poland, France .. Germany. All that history - all that darning!
And as for all those vintage wooden cotton spools...oh my goodness, these could be my latest obsession, plastic just doesn't cut it anymore!
So pretty, so full of history - my favourites are those from the Soviet Era, being sold in Ukraine, Estonia...Lithuania.
From a time - and a place - where everyone learned to sew, as very often there just weren't clothes to buy in the shops.

 

 

 

These worn and well used spools date from the early 1980s, and I love the idea of them living on in sewing projects more than three decades on!
A truly bygone era.

As is my latest doorstop, Patchouli.
She is a throwback to the early 1970s and resplendent in flower power.
In a previous life...a campervan curtain.

http://folksy.com/items/6494551-Patchouli-a-groovy-retro-dog-doorstop-1970s-flower-power-

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/198076241/patchouli-a-groovy-retro-dog-doorstop?ref=shop_home_active_7