A STITCH IN TIME saves easily more than nine

"A stitch in time saves nine." 

I'm certainly applying this smart adage more and more these days. To take it literally, I'm sewing closed the holes in anything that appears torn so I don't have to replace it or do more repairs later. Old sayings almost always ring true. They slip off our tongues and rattle around our brains. We usually have no idea where they came from. My mother used this one as did her mother and I'm sure her mother before. Common sense is easily passed on whether or not the person receiving is smart enough to understand.

I found these needle packs a few years ago in an old sewing box. I don't know their exact age, but I imagine they belonged to my maternal grandmother. I'd say they date to the late 1920s or 30s. Now, I only bought myself a pack of needles once decades ago and I'm still using them. As you can see by looking at what is in these packs I'll never need to buy needles again.

I love the graphics on these old cards. The handlettering, the illustrations, the mood trying to be set for the buyer. The first shows a domestic scene, perhaps a mother teaching a daughter how to sew while playful kittens play on the floor. Okay, the mother could actually be gasping at how bad her daughter's sewing is and is about to tell her to "Rip it out and start over!"

Click on any image to see it larger.

This second set is for the more sophisticated buyer, the world traveler who wants to tuck a small set of needles into their luggage for their world cruise. Of course, it was all advertising image. Entice the buyer to buy this set of needles instead of another. You probably weren't going anywhere, but when you left the store with this little pack you felt just a bit more worldly. The first packet played up the reality of the product, the second the fantasy. With these needles, from Germany no less, you could make your own wardrobe that would take you to far flung corners of the world and not just back to your 5 story walkup.

The lovely foil holding the needles and needle threader in place is a fun treat. Each foil printed with the same pattern which resembles a spider web. Interesting choice for sewing. Unfortunately the silver foil is no longer attached to the packet and it moved when I scanned it. At one time it was in perfect position between the two red foils. A perfect assortment, hardened in oil no less (???).

To bring things to within the past few decades I give you function only. It's not pretty. It's corporate, but it works. It's not memorable, except for the memory I have of the trip to Portland and finding this inside the desk drawer in the motel. It's nice they included a band-aid. They knew that hurried travelers at this motel were just as likely to be business travelers needing to put a button back on a suit before an appointment. And back then it was most likely men with thicker fingers who knew little of sewing thus more likely to poke themselves somewhere during the process of their mending. I still keep little packets like this in my luggage. They're little insurance kits for traveling which remind us "A stitch in time saves nine."