About six years ago, I went on an astronomy camping weekend. Surreal in itself; we worried that our telescope would be stolen while we were off in town during the day, until someone pointed out that there was always someone sitting by their tent seeing who was messing with others’ telescopes, and that there were around 250 tents and telescopes set out, some of them a damn sight more valuable than our basic model. If they wanted to steal a telescope, there were three in the next field worth around £10,000 each.
While we were there, we went into the local town and visited the shops (there’s a small pleasure we’ve been missing – wandering into a shop and smiling at the proprietor). I found a couple of 1950’s cotton reels with cotton on them, and, as I needed to do some sewing repairs, bought them. The cotton was stronger than I was used to in modern reels, and I took to seeking out second-hand reels of cotton at antique and vintage fairs, on Ebay, in yard sales.
Today I used a secondhand reel of Coates’ Ivory cotton thread to sew up the hems of our curtains – another lockdown project, getting the extra-long curtains cut to the right size for the window. I’ve almost finished the curtains, luckily as I have also almost finished the reel. Alongside the Ivory reel, I bought others. The names make it worthwhile… Gay Peacock, Carmine, Frog Green, Old Gold. Some reels have just a few metres’ thread left, but the wooden reels and their names remain. And now, of course, the stitches in our curtains.
Julia Chalkley 