Serendipity Sunday - Getting Crafty

I was really excited when I came across this book a couple of days ago. It has such beautiful patterns in it.

"The Young Ladies' Journal Complete guide to the work-table : containing instructions in Berlin work, crochet, drawn-thread work, embroidery, knitting, knotting or macrame, lace, netting, poonah painting, & tatting, with numerous illustrations and coloured designs"

Like many people I know, I love doing crafts.  My Mom would go south for the winter, learn new crafts, then show us when she came home in the summer. I also like woodwork. One year when my daughter was in grade 6 they were having a craft day at school.  Parents were to go to the class and teach a craft.  My daughter kindly volunteered me to teach woodburning.  What??  She had a set she got for Christmas one year, but I had never done it before.  Now I had to learn... fast!  I remembered my brother had a woodburning set and he did the projects that came with it, but I didn't really like those.  So I got some easy pictures from colouring books and used those and carbon paper to make designs on the wood for the kids.  They had to bring in any size smooth pieces of wood.  I then used food colouring (and some paints) to add colour to the projects.  The kids loved them, and those that didn't sign up for my class wished they had. 

I also enjoy doing needlework - embroidery, crewel etc as well as macramé, knitting and crochet. I used my great aunt's knitting pattern book to make mittens every winter for my girls when they were small. I liked that pattern because they were tight knit and went right up to their elbows. 

These are placemats I made sometime in the late 1980's (one of Mom's projects from the south) with a mesh material and natural cord, and I have lately been trying to find the materials to make more. There are some nice patterns in the book for doing this craft.

When we lived in an upper duplex our downstairs Greek neighbor was never without some kind of needlework in her hands.  My house was full of doilies by the time we moved from there.  "Idle hands are the devil's workshop" is a saying every ancestor as a child heard from their parents. When stuck indoors most girls and women practiced their craft.  

I remember my mother-in-law had a few coverlets that were made by her mother and grandmother.  They were quite colourfully made of woven rags and called Catalogne pour lit. These heavy coverlets kept a person quite warm on a cold winter night in Quebec.

What kinds of crafts would your ancestors have done? Are there any surviving family heirlooms?



There are several issues of The Complete Guide to the Work Table.

Heirlooms

What is an heirloom? An heirloom is something passed down generation to generation. The term heirloom (loom meaning a tool) probably came about due to a person handing down his/her tools of the trade to the next generations. It doesn’t have to be of great monetary value, but more of a sentimental value and family tradition. I am still trying to track down some family heirlooms that were not passed down, but auctioned off when the last son living at the family farm died. My ancestor was a carpenter and he made their dining set of which the chairs had the family crest carved on their backs.  It is rumored some went to family, and some were bought by a Mr Hamilton of Toronto.  Also, by family legend, my Seale ancestor had on the wall of the family home a ragged piece of the Banner of William of Orange that was carried at the Battle of the Boyne by an ancestor in 1690. All the sons got a piece to remind them and their progeny of how they got where they were and what they stood for. I am searching.

Sometimes it is not practical to hold on to an heirloom, and if that is the case make sure it is documented and photographed. Such was my situation when I moved across the country with just 16 small boxes to my name. There was a wooden Silver Chest made by my great-uncle for his mother, my great-grandmother (middle in above photo).  He was a carpenter, very skilled at inlay work, and his job was making floor model radio cabinets. The top of the Chest lifts up to put the big items in. The chest front drops down to reveal 4 drawers, each inlaid beautifully. It sits on a stand made for it. Frankly I needed the money and I thought the piece should go to someone who would lovingly use it day to day. It was an emotional time for me and I forgot to put the provenance with it, as I intended. But I did photo and document it.

These are other heirlooms I treasure! When she decided it was her time to go, my grandmother instructed me to give her amethyst jewelry to my daughter who shared the same birth month as her, but that I should keep her engagement ring.  I love the story of it, as my grandmother lost the diamond out of the ring in her wringer washer! My grandparents were retired by this time and couldn’t afford another diamond, so my grandfather surprised her and had it set with an amethyst.  I will pass this on to my granddaughter, who is also an amethyst baby, and tell her stories of her great-great-grandparents.  Last year my mother surprised ME at Christmas, by taking my grandmother’s wedding band, and having it made into the shape of a heart and hung on a chain! Now I can wear it all the time and feel close to both my beloved grandparents.

What family heirlooms were passed down in your family?  Below you will find links to help you document your precious heirlooms, take care of them, and ideas to display them.

Relevant Links:

Top 5 Places to Dig Up Family Treasures

Preserving Family Treasures and Heirlooms

Lost and Found Heirlooms

Family Heirloom Exchange - USA ($ but search is free)

Heirloom and Oral History forms from Family Tree Magazine

Displaying Family Heirlooms

Some relevant links on Cindi’s List

Ideas for Displaying Heirlooms

Caring for Textile Heirlooms (pdf)