Nan's original rulers

Better than finding great vintage goodies at the second hand shop is inheriting great vintage goodies from your grandmother. I use a lot of her fabrics and sewing bits and pieces (including two ancient pairs of pinking shears) and now Mum has given me the original timber rulers that Nan bought when she first began sewing. They are just beautiful, no doubt well used but in great condition. I think we will get much use out of them here and they will get much care and love.

Nan was an accomplished seamstress, working in the department store McKinlays in Launceston during the 1930s and 40s and then continuing to sew right through her latter years. As a child, I remember her black Singer machine always set up with a pile of alterations and garments half made beside it. She worked on many weddings, made many suits and took on lots of alterations for her friends.

One of our favourite family stories is the sewing that she took on during her last years. After a stroke put my grandfather in a nursing home, Nan moved into an independent unit in the same establishment, just metres away from Pop's room. She loved to be busy, and was always driving her 'older friends' around the city for their hair and medical appointments. She seemed to forget they were the same age as her!!!

She also did a lot of sewing for her neighbours during this time, taking in skirts and hemming their 'slacks'. The nursing staff recognised her work and asked that she do some alterations for them. So, with pride and a sense of purpose, she refashioned dozens of men's pyjama tops: sewing up the front panel of buttons, cutting down the centre back and adding velcro top to bottom. It made dressing those in bed much easier and Nan loved doing it.

So, welcome Nan's rulers. You are very special to us.

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