Think: What Would Great Grandma Do?

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Our ancestors were very frugal and remembering some of the penny pinching ideas they employed is helpful even now. Gram Mac was as tight as bark to a tree, but remembering what she would have done ha saved me a trip to a store recently. How?

I was marking a new (shorter) hemline in some lovely window drapes a friend had given me when I discovered that I had no thread that anywhere near matched their color! Since the material was a solid color, between sage green and a shade of olive green, that was not surprising. I wanted the new drapes hung, like yesterday. I'd cleaned the two windows and even had the ironing board out, all ready to give the lovely drapes a nice finish.

Frustrated, I thought, "Oh shoot! What would Gram Mac have done?" I sat fingering my lap project and suddenly it came to me. I took a length of material I'd cut off and was going to trash. Sure enough, using a needle to start a strand of material, I grabbed a recipe card and began winding thread from the material around it. Before you could repeat, What would grandma do?" I had more than enough thread to do the new hems!

By Janet from Conway, NH

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Christine Anderson

April 3, 20070 found this helpful

Fantastic idea, it never fails to amaze me what ideas we come up with. Well Done.

DJ_DJ

April 4, 20070 found this helpful

Do you mean you removed the old HEM thread, the basting thread from the hem you cut off, or do you mean you TURNED the fabric into thread, by pulling a thread out of it ?

Sandra

June 30, 20090 found this helpful

What a wonderful idea. Now I know how to have matching thread for hand sewing.

OliveOyl
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 138 Feedbacks

June 30, 20090 found this helpful

I'm with DJ_DJ--I don't know what you mean. Your explanation isn't clear. Did the scrap fabric have a hem sewn by a sewing machine that you removed the thread from?

That's about the only method I can imagine (I've done this myself). Please clarify.

Ariela
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 107 Feedbacks

June 30, 20090 found this helpful

Sounds to me like she carefuly pulled/seperated thread from the material itself.. wow neat.. no doubts about it matching. My mom was old school too. I also solved problems by stopping to think. *what would mama do?

christine M. Thayer

June 30, 20090 found this helpful

No she used a pin or needle to pull threads from the material itself. If you do this, most the time at first you have short threads to use, but eventually you'll get long threads of the weave.

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