Mama's Sewing Table

Suzanne, my Blogging buddy at Colorado Lady has a meme called Vintage Thingies Thursday. Today I'm joining in with VTT. If you have something vintage to post about, join in.

This was my mother's sewing table. The original finish is intact; other than dusting and polishing, it is as she bought it. It's pretty well worn; so was my mom. She lived to be eighty-eight. I don't know when she got this table, but she had it and loved it most of her life.

When she moved in with us, we kept it as a night stand beside the bed in our guest room. She got to use it while she was with us. Mama always kept it in her living room. There are two pull-out drawers and the top lifts up to reveal original yarn that came with the table.


The tan wooden sectional inner tray lifts out and was meant to hold smaller spools of thread, sewing notions, and knitting and crochet needles, but Mama never put anything in it. She felt that would be inconvenient to have to remove items from the table top. The label reads, the "Sewing Cabinet, Caswell-Runyan Company, Huntington, Ind., patent D116985" I found out that this company was in existence from 1907 through 1956. I found a sewing cabinet that is similar, with different drawer pulls that was made in 1938.



I've included this shot so that you can see the entire underside of the table top. There are black metal hooks that hold the grooved wooden pegs. (To get this shot, I've placed the lamp on the floor; you can see a bit of the shade.)



The drawers are as my mother left them. The top drawer is fairly empty, with only some personal items of hers; the bottom drawer contains more items of interest to you. Mama has been gone for almost ten years, and I just now have been able to go through this.



Here's a pincushion made from two mason jar tops and a bit of red velvet, a never opened package of bias tape, a sewing kit, and two spools of thread. The bias tape price is $1.15, the gray thread is 29¢, and the blue thread is 35¢.



See the cute little sewing kit opened. I don't think she ever used it, but I think she carried it in her purse (or pocketbook as she called it). Mama has a total of 5 little sewing kits in this drawer!



Mama loved the shape of the legs. This was her style of furniture.


I remember Mama saying that this was her favorite piece of furniture. It has become quite special to me.


If you know anything about these types of sewing cabinets, I'd love to hear about it.