Just old silk

[Theroe]

I love old silk-there’s just something about the way it handles.....bought this old plastic spool box, with the contents:

[Theroe]

More spools.....Not only is the silk fantastic to work with, the design and craftsmanship that went into making the woods pools is fascinating as well.

Thero

[joaniebo]

I’m a sucker for the old threads on wooden spools. Refuse to toss out any empty spools. Wish I had more of the old Pearsall silks on wooden spools.

[Theroe]

+ 1 on both comments!!

[tie2fish]

One might think that the colors of old silks would fade and they would be less vibrant than the new stuff on plastic spools. Not so! For the few colors of Pearsall's Gossamer for which I have both "old" (wood spool) and "new" (plastic spool) specimens, the colors of the older stuff are decidedly richer and more vibrant. The thread may not be as strong, but it's prettier.

[letumgo]

Dana,

I love the old wooden spools of silk. I raided my mother's old sewing box and took all her spools of silk buttonhole twist thread. The thread is fairly thick and makes great ribbing.

Nice collection you've gathered.

[Theroe]

Great stuff - and yes, I agree with Bill: the older colors are definitely brighter, & more vibrant!

I need more!

[PhilA]

When did Pearsall's switch from spooling silks on wooden spools to plastic spools? Here are a couple of photos of old and new spools of Gossamer No. 6A (Gold, aka. light orange) and No. 19 (Hot Orange)...

Gossamer No. 6A old (L) vs. new (R):


Gossamer No. 19 old (L) vs. new (R):


Old vs. new color differences can be pretty subtle, and the differences are more noticeable on some colors than others. For example, the older No. 6A is a deeper richer color than the newer No. 6A, which is more yellowish and pale.

[William Anderson]

Dana, Phil, thanks for posting these sweet pics. I have a bit of a thing for old silks too. A couple weeks ago I rounded up all my Pearsall's spools from a dozen different areas in my tying space and it turned out to be a fairly nice collection, both wood and plastic spools. There is such a range of tonal shifts over the years I have several spools that don't really fit with any of the known (to me) numbers. I have more than 10 shades that fall between #2 and #5. One things for certain, the spooling process was much cleaner and more precise on the older spools. I think the newer ones were spooled by weasels. I'm trying to put together a complete set of the colors to photograph.

Something that is easy to find and super cool is the buttonhole twist for bodies or for ribbing. I see a couple really nice samples in your recent purchase, Dana.

[William Anderson]

A couple quick shots with from my phone.