2 comments about Thimbles and Thimble Cases (Shire Library).

1. Thimbles may be considered mundane, ordinary sewing tools by most, but there's a world of thimble collectors who think otherwise, including author Eleanor Johnson who's enjoyed needlework and crafts and who specializes in antique needlework tools. Thimbles And Thimble Cases will fit in the pamphlet section of any collection and provide a key to collecting a range of thimbles, from simple working thimbles to specialty pieces and their cases. From old to more modern fare, Thimbles And Thimble Cases receives color photos and a fine discussion of the differences between luxury items and novelties.



2. On the thin side, both in terms of number of pages and helpfulness of information. Best best for me is the old Warman book on thimbles. Why don't they update that one?

No comments about Thimble Collector's Encyclopedia.

No comments about THIMBLE SUMMER..

5 comments about Sewing Tools & Trinkets: Collector's Identification & Value Guide.

1. This is an excellent source for the collector of antique sewing implements. Full color illustrations of all priced objects make it easy to identify and place a value on pincushions, needlecases, thimbles and more. Not much text but price guides are generally short on text. If a price guide is what you want, I recommend this one.



2. Helen Lester Thompson's Sewing Tools & Trinkets is a collector's identification and value guide, covering everything from thimbles and needle holders to toys and trinkets. A very specific reference for the collector of sewing items.



3. This book has great pictures, but I would have liked a little more info on the items.The pricing was helpful, but sometimes a little more specific info here would also have been better. I was particularly interested in vintage crochet hooks and was disappointed in the lack of much info on them. The second edition is not much better in this area. All in all I would say this book is good to very good on pricing, which is of course what it mostly purports to be. Be sure and check the chapter headings so that you have a better idea of which types of items are actually covered.



4. This book is great really enjoying it....but I bought what was said to be NEW...well it was not new...the cover was scratched, the corners are crunched and the book was well read....not happy about that...paying the new book price for an used book....



5. Looking through this book is better than a trip through a hundred antique malls looking for old sewing itmes. The photos are impressive and the collection is quite varied. Thoroughly enjoyed browsing the book; makes a nice sewing room addition.

No comments about Signs of Childness in Children's Books.

5 comments about Antique and Collectible Thimbles and Accessories.

1. Those with Ms. Mathis' 1986 book should consider her revised values book of 1997. Same photos in the same order, but 1997 values. The thimble market is booming and a knowledgable thimble collector can reap great finds, and avoid reproductions and the greedy seller. A must for the library of EVERY thimble collector.



2. I love this book! Mrs. Mathis has written a book that is very helpful to those of us who search auctions and flea markets for thimbles. The value guide in the book has helped me in knowing how much I should or should not be paying. The pictures of her collection are beautiful and well done. I should be so lucky to have a beautiful collection such as hers. I highly recommend this book.



3. The photography is so well done, that it makes it easy to identify even the slightest variation in design from one thimble to the next. The value guide is helpful, but not all of us want to sell our thimbles, we just want to know a little more about their history!



4. A great help to me with my thimble collection. I take this book with me when ever I go thimble hunting. Beautiful photography!



5. The first book on thimbles and accessories I purchased. I still enjoy thumbing the pages, especially looking at the wonderful photographs. The section on makers marks is particularly useful for identification either prior to or after purchase of an item. Highly recommended to anyone interested in collecting sewing implements.

5 comments about The Mary Frances Sewing Book: Adventures Among the Thimble People.

1. The Mary Frances Sewing Book was originally published in 1913 and recently reprinted in the late 1990's. An Edwardian girl staying with grandma for a few months during the summer meets the "Thimble People" (needles, scissors, pincushion, etc.) who engage her in weekly sewing lessons. The reader can work through the lessons, from learning stitches to sewing doll clothes with Mary Frances as directions with illustrations are given throughout the text.
   
   One practical aspect of this book is that basic hand sewing stitches are taught with descriptions and illustrations. I found this part very educational since the only sewing stitch I learned in childhood is the "running stitch". I had no idea there were so many stitches for hand sewing that can be applied to hand sewing garments. I also learned the strawberry tassle on my tomato pin cushion is an "Emery Bag", which can be used for cleaning needles as you pull them through the little bag.
   
   If you purchase a copy of this book sold in its original condition, it comes with patterns to make the garments Mary Frances makes for her doll. However, based on illustrations and the time period, Mary Frances' doll is a 16 inch doll with a composition body and a porcelain head. While the fashions are appropriate for this kind of doll, they are not necessarily appropriate for a modern doll. There are many more current pattern books and pattern sources to sew for both modern dolls and antique/antique reproduction dolls. The only use I would see for the patterns is for use by the individual who would like to specifically work through the book.
   
   That said, I loved this book! I am not going to stop sewing doll clothes on my machine or start dressing my modern doll in Edwardian fashions. I loved this book for what it is-an example of structured sewing lessons used by girls 100 years ago, when girls practiced their skills on doll clothes but would one day use them for sewing and mending their family's clothes.
   
   I also enjoyed the story "sewn" into the lessons. The talking scissors and pincushion, etc. argue with each other like siblings; making the characters more interesting and adding a bit of spice to the story. The sewing bird talks in rhyme; carrying the text along quickly. Mary Frances misses her family while at grandma's house, and has a few other brief adventures inside and outside of her sewing lessons. If you enjoy sewing for dolls and have a taste for a nostalgic, old-fashioned childhood, then this book will be priceless!



2. I had the copy of this book that was purchased for my mother in 1920 and I used it as a nine year old to learn to sew - almost 50 years ago. My doll may have had somewhat dated clothes, but part of what I learned was how to alter the looks to make them more up to date. My one disappointment with the paperpack edition is that the original had tissue patterns that could be removed and used along with a paper gatefold that could be traced. My original still has many of the tissue patterns. None-the-less, the paperback is still a fabulous book to teach children hand sewing.



3. I'm glad I didn't buy this book new, as I would have been seriously annoyed to find that this fairly expensive paperback is neither remarkably attractive, nor very practical, since it does not include the crucial patterns. I wanted THOSE patterns to re-clothe a 1914 16" doll whose original clothes were sewn by my grandmother around 1915. In this edition of the Mary Frances Book, the pictures of individual stitches are quite small, and I'm not sure that anybody could learn these classic stitches from this book alone.
   
   The book seems to be a re-issue for those who simply want to re-experience earlier readings of it - it does *not* fulfil the purpose that the original did.



4. While I agree with all that this book is lovely as a nostalgia item, I would like to hear from someone who's actually used it in conjunction with a modern child. I loved looking at the pictures and conjuring up the idealized little girl and "many happy hours" spent in the sewing room, busily stitching away, but frankly, found the story thread just plain silly, the verses hopelessly contrived, and the "character" banter tedious to the point of annoyance. I am a grandmother: any chance my granddaughter - or anybody's? - will go for this?



5. I've been sewing for more than 20 years and yet I learned quite a bit from this book, which teaches the fundamentals of hand sewing in a beautiful and somewhat sentimental way. Mary Frances, staying at her Grandma's without her mom and dad, is lonely until she realises she can have fun with the Thimble People -- the fairy Sewing Bird, Scissors Shears, Tommy Tomato, and the like. They guide her through lessons on a range of topics, and then, using the "Needle of Don't Have to Try" she is able to sew a beautiful wardrobe for her 16" doll. These patterns could be modified for 18" dolls, and are period-perfect for American Girl's Rebecca, but it is not as easy as a previous commentator suggested, so you would want to check dimensions before giving the patterns to a child.
   
   Regarding the sewing lessons. The first lessons in how to stitch are done on canvas, so if you are purchasing this as a gift for a girl, you also want to buy some Aida canvas (like they do cross-stitch on), embroidery floss or thick thread like topstitching thread, a needle, a thimble, and a little box or bag to put things in. There are also complete instructions for outfitting a workbasket given on page 27. Coats and Clarks makes different weights of cotton thread which you'll want to get for this. Before making any doll clothes, you work each of 12 stitches separately first on canvas: even basting, uneven basting, running stitch, stitching (backstitch), half back-stitch, catch stitch, overhanding, overcasting, hemming, blanket stitch, buttonhole stitch and cross-stitch. You then work a small and large sampler. These exercises are simple but teach the basics and the large sampler is charming.
   
   The doll patterns then introduce the stitches as they are used. What is lovely about this collection is that *exactly* the same process could be used to create *proper* clothing, unlike many of the doll patterns produced today. Some instructions are given on marking and laying out patterns but I feel an adult should be helping here. Also, an adult will be needed to purchase the fabric (Mary Frances's mother sends her a trunk) and I recommend getting natural fibres which are much easier to sew and produce lovely clothes for the dolly. And you'll want to lay in a supply of laces and ribbons too. During the making of the patterns, there are also lessons on needles and threads, the construction of cloth, gathering, outline sitch, hem-stitching, sewing on lace, making a fell, making a french seam, sewing on hooks and eyes, making eyelet loops, sewing on loops of tape, feather stitching, sewing on buttons, making button-holes, making a placket, felling on flannel, making tucks, making a whipped ruffle, making french knots, making eyelets, using a slip stitch, french hemming on damask, darning stockings and woolen goods, patching on gingham and flannel and making spider's webs.
   
   Here is the list of patterns for the doll: the laundry bag, the embroidered apron, the hem-stitched handkerchief, the nightgown, the bath-robe, the kimono, the dressing-sack, the pinafore, the morning dress, the flannel petticoat, the underwaist, the lawn petticoat, the drawers, the rompers, the bloomers, the leggings, the fur-lined cape, the afternoon dress, the guimpe (blouse), the party dress, the automobile coat, the automobile bonnet, the bathing sit, the fur muff and tippet, the sun bonnet, the work bag, the rain coat, the polo cap, and the wedding dress. Also included are full-sized patterns (ie for people) of a work bag, belt, baby's bib, and girl's collar.
   
   The patterns are printed on 8 1/2 x 11 sheets that are folded into the back cover of the hardback book. I see that Lacis also sell them separately.
   
   I think this is an excellent, charming book, but I would not give it to a child to use *entirely* without supervision -- they will need help with the patterns, layouts, fabrics, etc. The illustrations clearly explain the stitches, though, and I think many children would be able to proceed on their own with the actual sewing.

1 comments about The Story of the Thimble: An Illustratied Guide for Collectors (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. Fantastic reference book. I use it every day and regard it as an important source when looking for thimbles to add to my collection. Highly recommended for all sewing enthusiasts.

No comments about Betsy Ross and the Silver Thimble (Ready-to-Read. Level 2).

5 comments about Thimble Summer.

1. The Newbery Award winning books of the 1930s went through an interesting phase that was never again to be repeated. Starting with "Caddie Woodlawn" (1935), continuing with "Roller Skates" (1936), and capitulating with the delightful "Thimble Summer" (1938) these books all followed spunky independent females with little to no regard for the traditional roles women had always carried. But while "Caddie" and "Roller Skates" were period pieces that ultimately ended with the girls giving in to society's restraints, "Thimble Summer" trumps this trend. In it, we have a farm girl named Garnet who has a load of exciting summer adventures and who ends her tale wearing sailor pants doing hand stands over and over again in a pasture.

   The tale of "Thimble Summer" begins when Garnet finds a silver thimble in a nearby dried lakebed. According to Garner, the summer's wonderful aspects only take place after this key event. Her father receives a loan from the government allowing him to build a new barn. Her family meets and virtually adopts an adorable homeless boy. Garnet shows her favorite pig at the state fair and wins a blue ribbon. All these events are told with a marvelous simplicity and a real sense of being there with Garnet. From the very first page of this book, you notice the author's excellent writing style. About the heat of the summer Enright writes, "It was like being inside of a drum. The sky like a bright skin was stretched tight above the valley, and the earth too, was tight and hard with heat". You're in safe hands with this writer. Don't believe me? Here's another wonderful descriptive passage. "Her shoes hurt her; and with aching feet and her bundle and empty pocketbook she felt like an old, old woman coming home from seeing grandchildren who didn't love her".

   But observe this book within its 1938 context. Here's a girl that does a boy's chores. We never see her darn socks or cook, though she's often seen working in the fields. She's nine or so, so she doesn't go about falling in love (not even with the adorable homeless boy). She wears pants most of the time, is never badgered by either parent to be more feminine and (the coup de grace) at the end of the story she plans to someday have a farm of her own. Fabulous. Then there are those wonderful little details about the past. Kids reading this book may not get the references to G-men, Zeppelin shaped balloons, or the running boards of cars. Fortunately these spots of the past are either
   self-evident or mercilessly scant.

   Is the book flawless then? Almost. There are a couple tiny flaws here and there. The line drawings accompanying the text (drawn by the author herself) are magnificent. Unfortunately, there's one time they belie the text. If you've a child who's overweight in any way, this may not be the best book to show them. While Garnet's best female friend Citronella is continually called "fat", in the book's pictures she's the most average kid you've ever seen (compared to the waiflike Garnet, of course). Any child with body image problems is going to see the pictures, read the text, and come up with some pretty heart-wrenching conclusions. If Garnet is normal then... You get the picture.

   I don't really understand why kids don't know this book better. Anyone who's ever wanted to live on a farm in the country would enjoy it. Anyone who's ever wanted to hitchhike like Garnet, spend a night in a library, or swim rivers on their own would like it. It's a pip, this one. It's got moxie. Don't forgo the pleasures of "Thimble Summer" simply because it's old. You'll be missing out on more than you could have possibly imagined.




2. this book is a great book
   it deserves its newberry medal. not to many people are intrested in the title,but the inside is great. once you read it you wont want to put it down. it holds fantastic description and events. its amusing because its fun imagining what its like to be Garnet. this is the best book i've read in years.



3. This is my very favorite book for young girls. First and most importantly, it is really fun to read. I can just picture an 8-year-old girl reading this during summer vacation. After reading this book, how could a kid not fall in love with reading books for recreation? It is loaded with thrilling adventure. Even though the main character is a girl, she is not a "girly girl" at all. She is an outdoor farm girl who loves nature and has an active curiosity about the world around her. The characters are lovely, and lovingly portrayed. The sketches of Garnet's pesky younger brother, restless older brother, mother and father stressed out by trying to make a farm work at the end of the depression and drought, her friend Citronella, and the people of Garnet's farm community are amazing writing and enjoyable, educational reading. There are many interesting stories about people who Garnet meets during her beautiful and exciting summer. Citronella's grandmother tells a story about growing up as a settler which is not just interesting because it is about pioneer life, meeting Indians, and her childhood adventures, it may also encourage young readers to find out about their own grandparent's stories. The account of the family firing limestone to build a new barn is fascinating, and the family meets and adopts a wonderful boy who they encounter while spending the night minding the kiln. His story really brings home the realities of the depression, when adults and children travelled the rails and backroads of America to find work and food. The contrast between Garnet, who loves the land, her older brother, who has seen the stress his father goes through to wring his living from it and wants to get away, and the young hobo who has experienced the wider world and loves the steadiness and bounty of the farm are deeper elements to the story. The story of farm life, weather, and nature is wonderful, and I am sure many, many children have fallen in love with nature and reading from this classic book.



4. This is a book that, while written in the late thirties, possesses a timeless quality. The imagery is sublime, especially in the useage of simile and metaphor. The story is uncomplicated, like life in the midwest countryside, but uniquely eventful at the same time. It is a lovely book, and very well written.



5. This is a rambling, pointless book about a young lady living in the first half of the 20th century in the rural USA.
   
   The "heroine" is a terrible example - she flies from one dangerous misbehavior to the next without EVER a single consequence from her stupid decisions [including running away and hitch hiking to another city, where she has a grand time and nothing bad happens at all....]. She is disobedient, she lies, and she is completely self absorbed. Not a hero for today's kids for certain IMO.
   
   The author also has an unhealthy fixation on fat people. She doesn't describe the characters in her book much at all - UNLESS they are fat. Then she goes over board telling about how fat they are, why they are so fat, what their fat faces look like [and some of these are nice descriptions - like "she had a smile on her pleasant, fat face" and some of them are not - they are very ugly]. It seemed odd and obsessive after the two dozenth time it happened - especially when other characters - MAJOR characters, like the neighbor man who is in almost every chapter and saves the main character several times - are never described at all!
   
   In today's anorexic, fat obsessed culture, this is not a book I'd choose for my daughters to read just because the author seems so insanely preoccupied with fatness. Who needs to read about that?
   
   The book doesn't have any unifying theme [unless you count the theme of a young girl running wild and getting away with it every time] and it kind of meanders from scene to scene.
   
   It isn't particularly interesting or captivating in any way. I really did not understand why it came so highly recommended.