An interesting question came up at our stitching bee today. One lady said that in all "old ladies sewing boxes" she had seen there was an acorn and she wondered why. None of us knew and Google only came up with the fact that Jane Austen had one in hers.
Any ideas?My sister thought it might be like a miniature darning mushroom for mending gloves.
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67271Got my information from family members who help found a museum and very into historical things and have dealing with many other historical museums.
3 comments
by sllakin
15 Mar 2016
Virginia, USA - also a museum in New York among others. Also info from Civil War Re-enactors. My last input on this - guess folks just don't believe me. No problem - question was asked I knew the answer and answered. Please except my apologies!
by spendlove
15 Mar 2016
No need to apologise. Your answer is based on US history and tradition, so it doesn't go back as far as ours. Sometimes traditions travelled over to the New World with the early settlers and changed a bit and sometimes they disappeared. You will find that we in Europe tend to be rather fond of our traditions which go back hundreds of years or more!
7384My own research has found a lot of examples of sewing related items made to look like acorns, but not a great deal of information about the real thing. The number of the former, lead me to believe that there must be an underlying tradition which I have yet to find.
There is a German saying “from little acorns, come mighty oaks” which shows the protective nature of a mother’s belief that when one provides a nurturing and care, one can anticipate great results. I suppose that is what we are doing when we are sewing!
140717Going to try to post my answer again - the acorns were sometimes used for buttons instead of regular buttons.
2 comments
by spendlove
15 Mar 2016
They probably did use them for buttons, but the tradition is to only have one in the sewing box. This means there will be a reason!
7384All these years I have been sewing and never heard of this. Never to late to learn. Good to know.
6196My Granny told me that many thimbles were silver and the acorn holder prevented them from tarnishing. That way the thimble did mark the cloth.
4 comments
1148I had never heard of an acorn in a sewing box. Now I'm curious.
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67271Yes, I know why but it won't let me post the reason - go figure.
1 comment
7384I don't know the answer, but I do know that my mom had an acorn made of glass. I never thought to ask it's meaning.
1821I suspect after of a bit of searching that there is more to this and I wonder if any of the Cuties can figure it out -- or if they already know.
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