About 30 years ago, I bought a "grab bag" of sewing notions from a store that was going out of business. There was one thing in there that puzzled me, and so I just tossed it in my sewing basket. Well, it is still sitting there and I haven't the foggiest idea what it is. It is all silver and shiny. The reflection is my camera. Anyway, does anyone know what this is for? It is about 1.5" (3.75 cm) long.

And now we know, thank you Capoodle!!!

It's an industrial sewing machine attachment/folder guide. They make these kinds of guides for each part of the garment assembly like belt loops, bra underwire support, shirt yokes, lining tape, double zipper stitching, etc.

3 comments

by marjialexa 01 Aug 2012

I knew a Cutie would know!!! Thank you so much, this was beginning to drive me a little nuts, especially when I saw the back. Thank you thank you!! Hugs, Marji

by capoodle 02 Aug 2012

Your welcome. Got to love those high school home economics/Healthy Living field trips. lol

by justonlyme 03 Aug 2012

Seriously?? I'll have to give it a shot then, and see if it works. Thank you!

Just a guess but looks like it can be mounted to something and is some sort of a bias binding gadget. I'm anxious to read what others think it might be.

Was this a first tool in making bias binding? That's the impression I get.

Never seen one and have no idea what it is!

I wonder if it could be a guide for wide edgeing for like a mans cardigan.. it looks like somthing I used to have on my machine when i did this sort of thing . many years ago.
Hugs Pam.

I am older than dirt and have been sewing since I was 13 or 14. Beats the heck out of me! I have seen a few things in my Mama's and my Granny's things and never figured out where they went or what they did either. I trashed them yrs ago. All of the answers are very inventive though!!!

No idea ,what it might be , but sure has us guessing

Now I have seen the underside it is too perfectly bent to have been just something that got squashed. Having said that I have absolutely no idea but I have really enjoyed all your answers. Sarah.

it's a bracelet that run over by a mac truck, and flatten.:)

Reading these posts was a great start to my day. Thanks. Sorry I cannot give any further suggestions. Shirley

No clue but i enjoyed the laugh hugs:):)

1 comment

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

Me too!!

Um, if the shop was closing, maybe this is just a bent piece of something they were taking apart that got into the bag? Like a piece of a cabinet or something? I'd really rather it were an obscure sewing thingy, though, and somebody will come up with a true use for it. Just not me, I guess. Hugs, Marji

1 comment

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

Anything is possible!

It looks like it might be a picture hanger if you turned it sideways and added a couple nails or screws. Maybe it wasn't for sewing at all?

1 comment

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

That is absolutely possible. I'm as puzzled as you all.

Here is a picture of the other side of the mystery object. It has all rounded ends, and the sides are bent over so there is about 1/4" between top and bottom. It came in a package, all by itself, with no label on it. It is all chrome, so any other colors are just reflections from my camera (or fingerprints).
I'm loving your answers. What a great way to start the day!!

1 images:[1]

2 comments

by rescuer 30 Jul 2012

Are the two end pieces tack welded together?
I love the answers! This has been a fun post to read.

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

Nope. Just bent to touch.
I've enjoyed the answers too. Lots of fun for a Monday!!

I think that whatever it went with, that item probably never worked again afterwards, because this piece went "missing!" Well...not really missing, but not coupled to the thing to which it should be ;>) This is quite a good guessing game! If this was a "guess what I am game," You win!! Hugs and God bless, and thanks for giving my brain a real run today!

2 comments

by drro 30 Jul 2012

*s, hugs and blessings for all thinkers and responders here:>)

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

I didn't imagine I would have so many creative and fun answers. What fun!

Hi, it looks like a belt keeper to me. Maybe it holds the extra piece of a belt that sticks out beyond the buckle. I guess it's sewn on thru the 2 holes on either side.Did you get a matching belt buckle too ? It's a nice dressy,shiny piece too. Good luck finding another use for it. I hate to throw shiny,pretty things away. Haha, Carol

2 comments

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

THAT is the only thing that I can think of. There was a belt in the bag, but it in its own separate baggie. I think you might have solved this!!

by carolvm 30 Jul 2012

Hi, too bad you did not get the matching buckle with the belt as expensive as belts are nowadays. Maybe you can find a shiny buckle somewhere. The set would be really nice.Old findings are much nicer than those made today too. How fun,Carol

LOL, this I sure haven't a clue but all the wonderful imaginations of the cuties are up there tops.

1 comment

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

Oh, I have to agree there!!

I think it is a thing-a ma-gig that you use to make the whatya-me callet work the doo-hicky.on the wahat ever.
LOL
Lenamae

2 comments

by drro 30 Jul 2012

YOu are too funny!!

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

That was my thinking, but thought I should get a professional opinion. :)

It does look like a guide of sorts to me too. The bottom wings flip out so that they can be screwed down leaving the the top part as a rectangle that something, maybe a belt, can be pulled through. Perhaps a part to a commercial machine?

2 comments

by rescuer 30 Jul 2012

It does look like a brace of some sort. It is bent like that for access to the holes for the screws by design. I think I have seen one before but my memory isn't what it used to be...so I am told.

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

With all of the answers, I'm starting to decide that maybe it is a belt loop of sorts. Maybe futuristic at the time?? :)

It looks sort of like a thread guide of some sort that used to be on a machine.

MJDG

I have never seen anything quite like this but if it was at my house I would use the little holes to screw it under my computer desk to hold all the cables I have dangling down everywhere.

1 comment

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

Well, now there is an idea!!

Wow I haven't a clue. I know HOW you can use it though. Lay it on your ironing board and put some pins in the holes to make it stationary and pull a 2" wide strip of fabric through it as you iron it down and Voila, you have will have a binding strip.;)

6 comments

by pennifold 30 Jul 2012

I saw this idea on a website on Saturday whereby a woman placed 2 pins on her ironing board - folded her piece of binding down with a 1/4 fold and then just pulled the fabric through and she had a perfectly shaped piece of bias! Love Chris

by pennifold 30 Jul 2012

P.S. I wish I'd thought of that earlier and I could have saved myself some money by buying the Bias Binding machine!!!!!!!!!!

by loosie 30 Jul 2012

Great idea!

by jrob 30 Jul 2012

Chris, I knew the tip, but bought one anyway. The description you are giving tends to burn your fingers pulling the fabric under the iron.;)

by snowbird42 30 Jul 2012

meganne i have not heard this expression for years my mum used to alwas say this when asked a question''''lol'''lol...soozie

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

If it weren't so thick, that might actually work. But there is about 1/4" of space between the top and bottom. That would be a nice idea if it worked though!

personaly i think its a bit of scrap fixing that got tossed into the bag its bent in such a way to avoid the edges cutting into any one.
it could also be a wagbag for a wingdoodle.
This would fit neatly onto the elbow joint of the wingdoodles right knee. so allowing it to trap air in its left flapdoing and so make a mateing sound that can be heard for at least one inch away.
annie

5 comments

by pennifold 30 Jul 2012

I'm laughing my head off at this description Annie. Love it! Love Chris

by cfidl 30 Jul 2012

Me too! Great way to start the day!

by marjialexa 30 Jul 2012

That's definitely what it is, Annie, how ever did you know, hee hee hee?

by drro 30 Jul 2012

Oh my, these ideas are keeping me laughing!!

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

I am going to have to keep your answer and add it to the tag on the bag. Then I'll know exactly what it is for!! :)

Sorry I can now see that it is metal, I've just enlarged the picture and realise that it has holes at the back of each end?

I reckon it could it be some sort of thread winder?

Are there more than two holes each end? Can you give us some more information? You've now got me wondering what it is. Love Chris

1 comment

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

I posted a second picture of the other side. And there is about 1/4" of space between the bottom and the top. I'm coming to the conclusion that it might be a funky belt loop or something akin to that.

is it a who's it what's it. or is it the bit that just didn't fit back in. ha ha. have you another angle of it.

1 comment

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

I love your idea :)

I've looked through my numerous sewing and embroidering technique books and can find nothing that looks similar to this picture./Lillian

2 comments

by drro 30 Jul 2012

Maybe it belongs to something that was at the store where you bought the grab bag?

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

Thank you for looking!!
It came in its own little bag with the sewing notions.

Oh, I know! It's one of those thingies to hold the thing-a-ma-bobs together! LOL

1 comment

by nannynorfolk 30 Jul 2012

lol- lol -lol

I can't quite make out the shape from this photo,
but it looks to me that it's flat with the ends curving under on an angle, with little holes.

Is this right? or is the reflection putting me off.

2 comments

by kitty2011 30 Jul 2012

is the white & red bit your camera reflected?

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

it is all chrome. The colors and such are either reflections or my finger prints.

As my Darling Mum would say:
"A wig-wom for a goose's bridle." Sorrry. LOL!!!
Could you photograph it from the other side or from the side? Maybe both?
hugs n roses, Meganne

5 comments

by oigelcox 30 Jul 2012

This was always my mums answer if she was making dinner and we came in and asked her whats for dinner mum she whould always say a wig-wom for a gooses bridle and if we protested she would answer "Wait and see" Did your mum have an English background like mine. Hugs Joyce

by janetedna 30 Jul 2012

My Mum used to say "A wigwam to wind up the sun" and never left England, so your saying might have been adapted from that, maybe? Jan

by meganne 30 Jul 2012

Yep, my Mum was the only one of her family to be born in Aus after they migrated here. With a good old English name of Pritchard, from Harrow on the Hill, we still have many relatives in England who I don't even know.

by drro 30 Jul 2012

Oh my Meganne! Your mum was a Pritchard? So was my mother's mother, before she married my Grandfather and became a Bowen:>) Maybe we are distantly related?;>)

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

I've never heard that expression before. :)

Have you opened it to see what it might do? Curious now

1 comment

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

It is very rigid. Nothing moves.

A bit of fun - It went "zip" when it moved and "bop" when it stopped,
And "whirr" when it stood still.
I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will."
It looks like some sort of filler, like a paste or glue! Have you opened it up and felt it? Love Chris

1 comment

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

It is a rigid piece of metal, made to stay that way.
I love your description though!! :)

Beats me - sorry I can't help.

1 comment

by justonlyme 30 Jul 2012

me too! :)