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July/August, 2001:
Vintage Thread Chart & Photo Gallery
Thread Cabinets / Furniture (updated
1/25/09)
(Click on the pictures for a larger view)
| Commercial thread cabinet, floor model, for Corticelli thread. 37" h x 19" d x 22" w. Shown as found in an out building on property inherited by family member. Difficult to determine type of wood but owner promises to send photo when it is restored. Shown here are cabinet front and side views and closeup of the Corticelli trademark. Note drawers for twist and knitting twist. Est. late 1880s-1919. - Courtesty of Peggie Longwell
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Small oak Brainerd & Armstrong Thread 3-drawer cabinet, 16-1/8" W x 8-3/8" H x 14-1/4" D. Each drawer is divided into 10 rows with low divider at front to hold spool up to glass for easy viewing. c 1910-20 in the mission style. Cabinet is used to display a jewelry collection.
- Courtesy Sharon Stark
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B&A has been around since before 1883, producing many spool cabinets from small 2 drawer to 3, 7 and 9 and even 13-drawer models. Most are oak with glass drawer fronts so that colors of thread can be seen.
This is an interesting excerpt from Woodstock N.B Press newspaper Aug.26, 1883:
"Saunders Bros. have just placed in their store one of the finest cabinets for sewing silks and twists we have ever seen. It is built of walnut lumber, highly polished and has two banks of twelve drawers each, with glass fronts. Between these banks of drawers is a very commobdious [sic] recess, nicely fitted up with shelving and enclosed in front with a mirrored glass panneled door. Below the drawers with glass fronts are four other drawers with walnut fronts, two of which extend the whole width of the cabinet. The drawers pulls are nickelplated. It is a very convenient and highly ornamental article and is stocked with a full assortment of the celebrated Brainerd & Armstrong Co.'s silk and twist."
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This handsome Willimantic floor model has to be the envy of every thread cabinet collector. Thought to be walnut; paint is original. Drawers were converted from 6 to 3 for more storage room before the current owner bought it. And look at the colorful side view -- same on either side! Measures 24" h x 26" w by 19-1/2" d. c1890s. - Courtesy Sharon Stark
Eastern Connecticut was a great silk thread producing region.Willimantic is one its historic textile towns. Willimantic is Algonquin for land of the swift running waters.
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Lily metal case with glass cover. Estimated date is latter 1930s to prewar 1940s as colors were those popular at that time -- maize, nile green, rosebud, khacki, rose, ocean green to name a few plus the price. Case now contains modern thread ranging from 1950s-60s Coat's and Clarks wooden spools
to Talon's foam spools circa early 1970s.
- photo courtesy Carolyn Litteral
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Thread Chart | Spool
Sizes and Shapes | Labels - Misc. | Labels 2 - Misc. | Labels -
Belding Corticelli Richardson | Labels - American
Thread Co., Globe Silkworks, Gudenbrod Bros., Paragon Thread Co., Sears, Talons, Cutter
Silk Mfg. Co. | Labels - Coats & Clark | Ads | Ads Page 2 | Thread Memorabilia | Printed Literature | Cabinets / Furniture | Thread Column First Page | Crochet, Knitting and Tatting on Wood Spools
The arbitrary cut-off date for
this Vintage Fabric column is 1960. To stay within the scope of this timeframe, reference
materials published up to that date are the prime source of information to more accurately
capture actual thoughts of the time.
Joan Kiplinger is an antique doll costumer and vintage
fabric addict who learned to sew on her grandmother's treadle and has been peddling
fabrications ever since.
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