potd - Scissors

These are the same scissors as I use in the shop.  I only have a limited supply - the one's on the left are $65 and the ones on the right are $90.  They're both excellent but the ones on the right are divine! I just had mine sharpened after however many years and they feel  beautiful to use.  If you're in Hobart I recommend the place in Elizabeth Street  (near the corner of Brisbane St) for sharpening.  

potd - Shipping Poster

I'm researching some old prints and posters before I put them in the shop. This is an old Mitsubishi shipping agent's wood block printed  poster  that I think  dates from between 1873 (when the Mitsubishi name was adopted) and 1885 (when it merged with another company to become the NYK line) . The red panel shows  the names of all their ships.  Prints in this period had become very bright as new inks were introduced from the west. This red (or even brighter) is typical of Meiji  period prints of the late 19th century.

potd - Notions

Notions... Japanese thimbles,  old and new Japanese and Australian buttons and  wonderful  Japanese bronze zips .

Home Sewing 1933

These are illustrations from a Japanese sewing book in my collection dated 1933...

potd - Old Advertisement

Old (pre-war) cold medicine advertisement:

potd - Buttons

We always have buttons  - mixed and matched, old and new, Japanese and Australian...

potd - Hera

I'm just putting out some old bone hera markers. These have traditionally been used to mark  fabric. They leave a soft silver line on  indigo for sashiko patterns. Customers often use them for scoring paper as well.  I always have new plastic ones in the shop - but these bone ones are better.

 I've taken these out of  my collection to sell (because I really  don't need so many!) You can see the rest of my collection here.

potd - Industrial Safety Posters

I've recently put out more of these old industrial safety poster from the 1960's.  The first one reads something like 'Finishing up at the end of the day - check one more time'.

. The second one with the first-aider ant says; Let's co-operate for safety. Rome wasn't built in a day...  A  lifetime of safety comes from small safety habits. For yourself , for your family, for your colleagues be willing to make 'safety habits part of you.

potd - Sakura Beer

Old reproduction poster of a Sakura beer advertisement

Old Needle Packets

Another thing I've ended up accidentally collecting is old Japanese needle packets. These usually turn up when we buy old sewing boxes and they're still full of  needles, buttons and threads. Some are sold in the shop but I usually keep a sample of different brands or unusual packets. Luckily they don't take up much space.
 Most of these first ones probably date to the early 20th century, some are older, some a little newer. The black writing is the type  or size of needle, for example, 'silk', 'tsumugi' ( a type of silk), 'small cotton',  '4-2',  '4-4'.  I'm not sure how the sizes work.

 

 

 

 

 

Some are held together with a little thread:

 

 

 

Some machine needles:

 

 

Clover  has been producing needles and other sewing accessories since the 1920's. I sell Clover needles in the shop. Here are three generations of Clover needle packets.  The oldest packet contains 25 needles, the latest only six, which probably says something about the changing place of handstitching in everyday life. It's interesting and a little sad to see how much packaging it takes now for 6 needles compared to a small piece of paper for 25. In the old packages the needles are first wrapped in a small piece of foil and then  simply folded in the paper.  (I package sashiko needles for the shop and use this method - it's easiest and most economical).

 

 

 

This is an old  shop display box for 'Clover top quality sewing needles' -  '1 packet 10yen,  futon needles 20 yen' :