Aunt Martha patterns
 

You can purchase a transfer pencil and trace over the pattern then iron it onto the fabric. It works very well.
also, I am looking for an old Aunt Martha's pattern of a baby laying on an open rose. If you have this pattern, I would like to purchase it from you. I made my oldest daughter a baby quilt using this pattern and it has gone to shreds now and i would like to make her another one for child...Thank you

I have used the paper bobbins and they work fine. I have not had any trouble with the iron on transfers I have used that were from a friend's mother. They were old but still worked fine.

Personally I would not use the thread that's 'as old'...as you say it could be.

IF it came from someone that was close to me that I wanted to remember when I looked at the thread, I'd display it in a pretty glass container.

Our sewing areas can be pretty and decorative too!

Nan - IN

The paper bobbins, as mentioned earlier, are prewound bobbins, and they are real timesavers. Is there a size like L or M marked on the bobbins? I have not looked lately, but Superiorthreads.com may still have a chart showing which sewing machines will accept them. If not, then try one out in your machine. If it works, great! If not, they can be rewound onto your bobbins.

Good morning M, Inheriting OPS can be both a sentimental and problematic thing to deal with. My mom was a craft hoarder, mostly cross stitching and I literally inherited a room full of her unfinished projects. It took me a few years to deal with it all, a little at a time.

If the bobbin thread is good you can rewind it onto bobbins that fit your machine.

I don't know what the coral colored thread is, looks like pearl cotton, but I can see a funky quilt with this used as a fun folk art hand quilting thread in a large scale style.

I have used very old transfer patterns and they still worked. Get creative with these. They don't need to be used just for embroidery work. Transfer and use a crayon process to color on fabric and quilt it. Enlarge the designs to use as quilt motifs. These little packages are like getting free clip art. They would make great mini quilts. Enjoy them, or pass them along. They don't have much value except to anyone who wants to get creative with them.

As you can see, your simple 'tools' have my creative side going into overdrive.

peace

I have a bunch of the paper bobbins given to me by my neighbor, she used to work in a men's suit factory. I thought the same thing, that the thread may be dry-rotted, but not so, the thread is thin, but very strong!

Even if the iron on's no longer work, they could be used to trace onto fabric if you so desired.

when a favorite aunt died, we took alot of her old notions (button cards with button on it, old snap cards, small sissors, etc..) to the florist and had her make an arrangement for the service. it turned out so pretty...and so appropriate for her service, she was never without pins sticking in her shirt and always had a project going. I now have that arrangement in my sewing room.. when I look at it, it makes me smile..she was such a dear... when I learn how to print a pic here, I will..

You can also rewind the thread on the paper bobbins to your own bobbins if they are good and colors that you use. I would try them on my machine first though.

Some of your small wooden spools(look kind of like bobbins)are top stitching thread, usually silk. I would keep them :)