The Collectors...

I’ve never had a fabric stash.

I know how ridiculous that sounds, being someone who sews quite a lot; but it seems that whenever I have fabric, I tend to use it. I don’t save it, or keep it tucked away for that special project; it’s used – and used fast – on a random project, or on small something for a new baby, or on a last minute whipped-up-present for a friend. I guess that’s what it’s supposed to be for, in the end.

But I do admit, I had a case of serious fabric envy over at Kim’s yesterday – she’s got this hefty box of colour coordinated material in micro-prints, spots, stripes and solids, and is, at the moment, trying to match clothing for a couple of new dolls she’s working on. The box was stuffed full, neat as a pin, and there were random fat quarters strewn almost artfully all over the table; I stood over it and thought of all the lovely things that could be made with such a stash, but also how beautiful such a collection can be.

And it got me thinking about how some people are just born collectors.

And, how I’d quite like to be one of those people (but not in a crazy, obsessive, hording kind of way).

So, this is a very roundabout way of saying to you, that if I had all the money and time in the world to be a collector of things, this is probably what I’d start off collecting:

   

Most definitely, I’d start by amassing a beautiful stash of fabric and buttons...

...I’d also add to my collection of photographs and daguerreotypes – and may even splash out to find some turn of the century mourning photographs (because even though the idea of them is a bit morbid, the actual images are so peaceful).

I’d then build a collection of ink pots and ink bottles....

And I love the idea of collecting old newspaper advertisements – the things they’re often peddling are wonderful and strange…

(This is from a small collection of “Lloyd’s Sixpenny Dickens” which I found by accident and snapped up posthaste – it contains the original stories written by Dickens and published in the newspapers, which have then been bound into paper books. My favourite is the advert for Coles’ Ointment, which is a cure-all for abscesses, boils, poisoned wounds, eczema, as well as sore throats, croup and chesty coughs. What a miracle!)

What about you? Are you a collector?

Or do you have a list of things that you’d love to collect too, if money and time weren’t a factor?

Nat

The Sentimental Relatives

I love the art of collecting, don’t you?

I’m a bit of a fair-weather collector, only adding to the pile once every few months; but I love that thrill of discovery, of finding something that perhaps no one else has seen in decades.   

I collect old portraits, both posed and informal, from the turn of the century. I have quite a sentimental reason in doing so – as daft as it sounds, I often feel bad that their images have been left behind, whether through a deceased estate, or by distant relatives who have no idea who they are, and who then pass them on to antique stores with other semi-precious things. They sit in dusty boxes, hundreds crammed together, without a place to belong. So, I find out the portraits that are hidden amongst hundreds of others, the small one of a freckled-faced girl or a faded mother and child, and add them to my box of sentimental relatives.

Old photographs definitely have their own breed of charm. I love the posed sepia toned family portraits, the children (especially little boys) donned in ribbons, lace and buttoned leather shoes; the stern, wide-eyed faces of bearded men, sitting straight-backed in fancy parlours; and the daguerreotype miniatures of black clad bonneted grandmothers, curled, ribboned, and often stony-faced. I imagine that I can see hope on the faces of the young couples - the stylish young women standing at a noticeable distance from their formally seated husbands.

The photographs I save speak to me about the idea of family, heritage and history; I like that these unknown people loved, laughed, lived and died somewhere in the world, and now, by being added to my own small collection (and even though I don’t know a thing about them) they won’t be forgotten.

Are you a collector?

Nat