I wanted to show you a recent find. Some 1930s (I think) cotton embroidery threads by the French company Dollfus-Mieg & Co. DMC was established in 1746 and is, astonishingly, still going strong.
1930s DMC embroidery thread boxes
Aren’t they glorious? This kind of thing puts a spring in my stride, even when it’s damp and gloomy outside, like today. Most of these boxes no longer have their full complement of 12 skeins. But what’s there is in lovely condition, bright and clean.
Vintage DMC: perfect for a little broderie francaise
The threads are rather fat, and not the kind of thing which would split readily, so I’m wondering what kind of embroidery they would be best suited for. Any ideas?
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wow, that is quite a find! not sure what that thick thread was used for. i have quite a bit of similar stuff and haven't really used it. Needlepoint maybe?
Hello Ruth! I've just heard from a reliable needlepoint tweeter source (http://twitter.com/#!/mrsjollyred) that it is indeed for needlepoint. She calls it 'posh string' and recommends it for areas of good definition (not fuzzy, as wool would be) on 14 hpi canvas. So, you learn something new every day!
How lovely *envy*
Wondered if you would like them, Alison, with your eye for the old! It's always the labels and boxes and the fabulous typography which grab me too. These carry the old bell logo, phased out in favour of Thiriez & Cartier Bresson's horse's head when DMC merged with them in 1961.
They look like a cotton thread that I have. I use it for crochet, you could make a sea pennies scraf. i am sure I saw a tutorial for that somewhere.
Sea pennies? Sounds really intriguing. I'll have to google that.
Another great find! I agree that just the boxes themselves, with that wonderful font and packaging design, are beautiful on their own. Even better to have them AND the thread to play with. I was coming here from my feed reader to say that I found a bunch of this in my Christmas grab bag of embroidery loot and didn’t know what it was for either – research pointed me in the direction of needlepoint, but I see you’ve already discovered the same. Any big plans for it, or is it just lovely crafty materials for the sake of it for the moment?
I have no grand plans yet, Julie, though it\’s nice to know what their original purpose was, i.e. needlepoint. The boxes aren\’t complete, which helps me fight my awful curatorial instinct to wrap them up in acid-proof paper. The threads do look beautiful all skeined up, though, so I don\’t have a very great urge to use them. Not yet, anyhow. I\’m also hugely enthralled by the history of these items, so they may stay with me as research props, at least for the foreseeable. Or, if a bill needs paying, I may take them along to my next fair (26th March in Bath in Friends Meeting House, Bath). How\’s that for a teaser!
And now I've put them up for sale on Etsy. Just click on the button (above right) to arrive at my store.
I happened upon this photo, which brought me here and I'm so happy! The thread is lovely, and so is your blog!
Thank you, Molllie! I'm so glad you found your way here! I see that we share an enthusiasm for embroidery floss, and that you're doing some exciting things on your blog – I look forward to having a long read (when that rumoured summer holiday finally happens…).
Hello, Would you believe I have just been using my old stash of these threads. In the 80's, I used them for a tapestry I was doing. They are 100% cotton, and I preferred cotton at the time, to the more traditional wool thread. I was searching for some more, as I'm now crocheting with them, and they are still strong and good – 30 years later.
Geee whiz, those are nice threads. Great find, and thanks for the post!