Haberdashery - aholic!

I think that I'm gradually becoming a bit obsessed with old haberdashery! I mostly buy it for making jewellery, but I have started buying some of it just because of the packaging. Especially the Newey brand, as there are so many different styles of packaging all the way through from the end of the 19th century to when the Birmingham based compnay closed in the late 70s or early 80s.

Here are some of my recently found treasures!

Carefully collected and sewn onto card by Grace Dow

Thanks for collecting them Grace whoever you are, I hope you'd be pleased that they'll soon be recycled into pendants and necklaces

 I got this whole box of Newey hooks and eyes in their original supplier box. I think they are late 1940s in date.

Not sure I can bring myself to cut these off the cards!

These are also Neweys and are older from the 20s or early 30s, the square card is really unusual. These won't get used for jewellery I don't think.



At the Antique Textile Fair in Manchester the other week I got these lovely mother of pearl buttons. When I got home I discovered the old French newspaper stuck on the back. Not sure of the year, but the headline is "Paix et du Pain" and talks about unrest in Berlin and Amsterdam.

I've already made some of these into earrings

Jewellery Focus Magazine - Alternative Materials

The other day I had an excited text from a jeweller friend, saying she had just read a great article about my jewellery in this month's Jewellery Focus magazine. Naturally I got straight on the phone to them for a copy! Read the article in full by clicking here.

The article features three makers who don't use traditional materials to produce their work. One of the other makers, Kate Hamilton Hunter recycles old biscuit tins into lovely jewellery. Earlier this year our stands were near each other at Top Drawer, in fact there were a few of us who became friendly and have made sure that we are next to each other next year too!