A Well-Stocked House(wife)
Sewing tools are essential to the process of creating garments, and they always have been. The housewife (sometimes written hussif) has been around for hundreds of years and used by all kinds of people. Military forces the world over issue them to their soldiers, and sewists keep these useful little bundles on hand.
My housewife isn't 100% period correct: I used store-bought seam binding just to make things easier on myself. Most of the fabrics are cottons and linens I used in making my 18th century wardrobe. The only outlier is the cream and blue diagonal plaid, which was a 1940s work shirt. I think it goes with the color palette of the rest of the fabrics, though! What's most important, however, is what's inside.
In the topmost pocket, I keep my dress pins. Most housewifes have a piece of felt with pins sewn above this pocket, but as I have a pin pillow already, I just store my dress pins here. My pin pillow has received an upgrade since these photos were taken, and is now full of historically accurate brass pins, rather than the modern steel ones seen here.
Second pocket from the top are tools. My bone awl, seam ripper, and thread snips are here. I like that they're close to the top and easy to access. The fabric on this pocket is also one of the thicker, sturdier options, which is important, as these items are sharp.
Dead center, in pocket number three, are my bone winders with thread. Linen spools of thread could fit in my housewife, but they can be extremely bulky, and it's historically accurate to keep lengths of thread for sewing in this manner. It's nice to have thread stored this way, I've found--it doesn't want to run away, like a spool, and it doesn't cause lumps and bumps in my housewife when it is rolled up. My one gripe is that I would like more thread winders for more colors!
Fourth are two of the most important tools, my needles in their wooden case and my thimble. I like to keep these closer to the center of the wound housewife as if there is ever a case when the lid comes off of the needle case (it hasn't with this one, but it's something I've experienced with other needle cases), there are a few layers of cotton security before needles start protruding.
The fifth and final pocket is the "core" of the housewife when it's spooled together, so I have the lumpiest and most bulky items here: my wax cakes. These were originally one cake, purchased at Ft. Frederick from Burnley & Trowbridge. It was a sizeable chunk, so using a butter knife, I split it in half. I now have two smaller, more manageable "pucks" of wax that fit nicely in my housewife.
If you are looking to stock a housewife of your own, here are links to the items I have. These are not affiliate links or sponsored in any way--I just wanted to share for those who are interested. If you have favorite tools of your own, please share in the comments. I'm always looking for new and useful items.
-Bone Awl. I had one from Samson Historical previously, and it was also excellent. My cats did something with it, and it's gone forever now.
-Dress Pins. I have both sizes, Standard and Extra Large. I use them to close my dresses, the standard for more delicate fabrics, and the extra large for the sturdier ones.
-Needle Case. Mine was finished after I got it with a light coating of linseed oil to give it a more handmade look.
-Pins. I finally splurged and purchased brass ones. These feel different than modern pins--they have a weight to them. It makes 18th century hand sewing feel special.
-Scissors. Not pictured, but useful. I have the medium, and they're the perfect size to hang from my apron alongside my pin pillow.
-Seam Ripper and Thread Snips. I purchased these at Tarpley, Thompson & Company at Colonial Williamsburg, and their inventory doesn't appear to be online.
-Thread. I have a couple of different weights, so this is a general link to the thread page.
-Thread Winders. The link is for the shuttle-shaped ones. The cross-shaped one was a gift from a friend, and I'm not sure where she got it.
-Wax. The wax in my housewife is the white wax.
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