The Mother Lode

twist

The granddaughter of a tailor was selling vintage bolts of cloth and buttons on the internet recently and I noticed she had some thread. Regular readers are familiar with the difficulty I sometimes have in getting silk buttonhole twist, particularly good stuff, so I told her I would take everything she had. And she had a fair amount. Some of it is from Belding Corticelli, who used to make a really excellent silk buttonhole twist. But not anymore- the spools are stamped State Tailors 1950.

Am I really getting excited over some old thread?

Really?

Well, yes.

I need to get out more.

9 Replies to “The Mother Lode

  1. We need more tailors like you who get incredibly excited by these things; all the better for creating wonderful items!

  2. Wow, what a find! Do you suppose Gutermann or any of the other makers of silk buttonhole twist would be interested in reproducing a facsimile of these vintage threads, ie, send them relatively small samples from each spool to be unraveled and examined under high-powered magnification for possible production? If it's no longer being made by Belden Corticelli or whomever, I doubt there would be any conflict with patent infringements. If some maker likes the idea, you deserve to be made a partner in the profits.

    JMB

  3. He he, good find. Thread is clearly something that is not as good as it used to be, it's easy to see when using old thread like these.

  4. That is fantastic! I luckily found some buttonhole twist thread on old wood spools at B Black and Sons here in LA! Love the thread!

  5. Similarly I found some old buttonhole silk threads at a Country church fete ( that was 20 years ago – and in Australia ) . I share your delight.

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