[lace] Re: Calico and Muslin
Thanks, Adelevery interesting. Lucky youI would have loved to have studied linguistics. Such a fascinating subject! Vicki in Maryland - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
Re: [lace] Re: Calico/muslin flour bags
That's the Hoover Tower. I just went there a couple of days ago, and saw some Belgian bobbin lace on display. No embroidered bags though. Weronika On Sun, Aug 01, 2004 at 09:04:15PM -0400, Tamara P. Duvall wrote: > Very definitely before... :) When I went to Stanford University in > search of their lace collection (Hoover Tower? I'm sure some Northern > Californian will be able to tell us the exact name of the building), I > got to see some of those, dating to WWI, and also re-used. Apparently, > Mr and Mrs Hoover (before he became President), managed to persuade the > US government to send help to Belgium, and managed to persuade the > Germans to let it through. So, flour went in, and empty bags came back. > Empty, but most beautifully embroidered, by the grateful recipients; > Mrs Hoover made sure that more than just flour was sent: thread (also > thread for lacemaking) was included in the shipments... - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] RE: Calico
> So many things that had very many uses are not obtainable any more. During > World War II, and presumably before, flour used to be sold in fabric bags, My grandparents had a cattle farm and the cattle feed came in sacks like this. She made me feedsack dresses when I was in elementary school. I suppose the kids at school thought I came from up a hollar as mostly poor people used it (other than the thrifty farmers!) The old feedsack material is "collectable" and highly prized by quilters. So much so that new feedsack material is made and sold in quiltshops. In, fact you can get off white feedsack towels at KMart in the Martha Stewart area of kitchen goods. I use the MS ones for cover cloths for my lace and to make a liner for a basket/purse when I am attending a US Civil War reenactment. Trish in Greater Downtown Scott Depot, WV - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Re: Calico/muslin flour bags
On Aug 1, 2004, at 18:15, ann DURANT wrote: During World War II, and presumably before, flour used to be sold in fabric bags [...] Once washed, the material was a sort of soft muslin, and my mother, and probably many others like her, used to put a hem on the material and use it as a handkerchief. Very definitely before... :) When I went to Stanford University in search of their lace collection (Hoover Tower? I'm sure some Northern Californian will be able to tell us the exact name of the building), I got to see some of those, dating to WWI, and also re-used. Apparently, Mr and Mrs Hoover (before he became President), managed to persuade the US government to send help to Belgium, and managed to persuade the Germans to let it through. So, flour went in, and empty bags came back. Empty, but most beautifully embroidered, by the grateful recipients; Mrs Hoover made sure that more than just flour was sent: thread (also thread for lacemaking) was included in the shipments... The embroidered bags are well worth arranging a visit (they're not on permanent display) to see, if you're going to be in that area; they're beautiful. The story of the lacemaking threads which had also been sent at the same, time is reported in Charlotte Kellog's (?) book, of which fragments Jeri Ames had, kindly, re-typed for us some while ago. The book itself is out of print but may, I think, be available on CD, due to Tess Parrish's efforts... PS Our Virginia hams (long-cured and very salty) come in similiar (though not sized) bags. The bags are not suitable for embroidery, being printed, on both front and back, with pretty-much indelible ink, but they're still re-usable. Because they're light-weight and they breathe, they serve well for storing fresh produce (carrots, radishes, parsley, spring onions) in the fridge. --- Tamara P Duvall http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland) Healthy US through The No-CARB Diet: no C-heney, no A-shcroft, no R-umsfeld, no B-ush. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] RE: Calico
"ann DURANT" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > During > World War II, and presumably before, flour used to be sold in fabric bags, > heavily sized, In Australia some brands of flour is still sold in exactly this manner. I wash the bags and use them for storing small knitting projects like socks or matinee jackets or small crocthet projects. Keeps them clean and together and the bag can be rolled to fit into handbags et Fran (a newbie breaking cover) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] RE: Calico
Dear All So many things that had very many uses are not obtainable any more. During World War II, and presumably before, flour used to be sold in fabric bags, heavily sized, and machine sewn with the sort of stitch where you only have to pull one thread, and the whole thing comes apart. Once washed, the material was a sort of soft muslin, and my mother, and probably many others like her, used to put a hem on the material and use it as a handkerchief. If a bottle of milk had gone sour, I would use it as a cheese cloth, empty the curdled milk into it and hang it on the clothes line - by the next day, it was suitable for "cream" cheese sandwiches! Ann in Manchester, UK - Original Message - From: "Joy Beeson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, August 01, 2004 1:47 PM Subject: [lace] RE: Calico In the U.S., we call it "unbleached muslin". In the forties and fifties, it was the cheapest fabric around and was frequently made into sheets and pillowcases. To this day, people on Sewinglist refer to test-the-pattern projects as "muslins". (I think the U.K. people say toiles".) (*Somebody* says "toile".) I believe that what the British call "muslin", we call cheesecloth. I gather from context that this a grade of cheesecloth that could actually be used for making cheese. Most of our "cheesecloth" is more like gauze, and meant for polishing cars. It comes in packages in auto stores, but I saw some in the canning department at Big R. (I'm referring to the "gauze" that bandages used to be made of -- the "gauze" in the same order with my muslin is fine enough to strain milk with, and substantial enough to make clothing. DH wondered whether I'd bought a bunch of diapers!) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] RE: Calico
At 08:57 AM 7/31/04 -0600, Helen Bell wrote: >I don't know what American's call what we call Calico, but you are >correct - calico is a very sturdy cotton that's plain cream/unbleached >in colour (tends to have little dark flecks in the fabric). I don't >think it's called canvas - that's something much heavier and stronger. > >You should be able to get it in a good fabric store. And it tends to come very heavily sized. In the U.S., we call it "unbleached muslin". In the forties and fifties, it was the cheapest fabric around and was frequently made into sheets and pillowcases. To this day, people on Sewinglist refer to test-the-pattern projects as "muslins". (I think the U.K. people say "toiles".) (*Somebody* says "toile".) Toward the end of the century, it disappeared except as pricey "country craft" fabric. (Did the U.K. suffer from the "country" fad, where "country" meant a goose with a bow around its neck?) But just this week, I bought twenty yards of $1.80/meter 58" unbleached (nowadays they call it "natural") muslin from fabric.com. I'm disappointed to see that it's a pillowcase grade of fabric -- I had something cheaper and flimsier in mind -- but that may change when I wash the sizing out. (*This* purchase I think I'll put away unwashed, and wash pieces as I need them!) The "scenery muslin" that Dharma sells is stout, and probably more like what you call "calico". I believe that what the British call "muslin", we call cheesecloth. I gather from context that this a grade of cheesecloth that could actually be used for making cheese. Most of our "cheesecloth" is more like gauze, and meant for polishing cars. It comes in packages in auto stores, but I saw some in the canning department at Big R. (I'm referring to the "gauze" that bandages used to be made of -- the "gauze" in the same order with my muslin is fine enough to strain milk with, and substantial enough to make clothing. DH wondered whether I'd bought a bunch of diapers!) (A nineteenth-century American novel I read had the poverty-stricken protagonist resort to making her graduation gown from "butter muslin", which, I learned from my unabridged dictionary, was cheesecloth.) -- Joy Beeson [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.earthlink.net/~joybeeson/ http://home.earthlink.net/~beeson_n3f/ west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A. where it's been a wet summer, but we are in for a spell of dry days. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] RE: Calico
Devon, I don't know what American's call what we call Calico, but you are correct - calico is a very sturdy cotton that's plain cream/unbleached in colour (tends to have little dark flecks in the fabric). I don't think it's called canvas - that's something much heavier and stronger. You should be able to get it in a good fabric store. Hope this helps. Cheers, Helen, Aussie living in summery Denver - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
