Scissor keeps

As I finished my 3 beaded scissor fobs I chose a pair of scissors to go with each. I had, I discovered, at least 7 pair of embroidery scissors without fobs - and more importantly, without cases or keeps. The scissors with new beaded fobs needed, I thought, a case to go with the fob. For Anastasia i made a case out of the Italian felted wool coat left-over fabric.

For the black fob I chose a scrap of black silk from which I had once, I think, had a dress. For the purple Anastasia I chose a piece of cotton Bali ikat from which I still have a smocked dress.

That would, you might think, be enough to keep me going.  I was, however, by now well and truly on a mission, spurred on by the thrill of using up scraps of treasured fabric.

In the hunt for further suitable fabric I came across a set of embroidered linen serviettes I bought in 1972 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We had used them throughout the 70s and 80s before wear and stains pensioned them off - but I couldn't bear to dispose of the meticulous, tiny cross-stitched embroidery.

So here was my chance. I cut the embroidered sections out and made them into both a scissor fob and a scissor keep.

I searched through the pieces of fabric I had overdyed in the Futonji class. I don't think I will ever put these to their intended use, so one piece fell to the scissor mission.

  

This lovely piece of shot silk is from a sari I bought in India in the 70s and had made into trousers and top for my daughter's wedding.

 It now houses my purple scissors



















This Paisley scissor keep with the crocheted edge I made earlier this year as an off-shoot of my teabag holder project, was enhanced by a fob with a crocheted star.

I experimented with the stiffening agent - in some using the plastic from milk cartons, as we did for those we made in Back to Basics, in others I used a variety of interfacing - from quite stiff, to felt, to much  lighter. All were successful in their own way. All the fobs were weighted with coins, some of them old, some contemporary Australian and some foreign. I do hope none of them were valuable - or if they were, that some future embroiderer one day takes them apart and benefits!

So now I have fobs and keeps for most of my embroidery scissors. I didn't expect to end up here when I decided to try Japanese beading!

Toy Chest Scissor fob and scissor case

Both the scissor fob and scissor case for the Toy Chest Etui have cords attached, and the scissor fob incorporates a tassel. I made the tassel first, then made the cord for the fob using the 'Spinster' that Betsy Morgan had recommended and sold at the workshop.

It worked, but seemed overly complicated for  a simple cord.










When I came to make the shorter cord for the scissor case, I made it by twisting the threads between my hands, attaching an end to each lined half of the case, putting two knots in the middle and cutting between the knots.



I am still not entirely comfortable with the faceless people, but am paying respect, as best I can, to Amish tradition.




















Here are the scissors, in the case with the fob attached.

Toy chest etui: scissor keep side two

The second side of the scissor keep has the same basket weave pattern, but the top of the piece has the date and initials. I decided to use my own initials as the maker, even if I decide to give the Toy Chest away as a gift.

Once again, I began with a bit already done.


As I said in the last post, I have been doing a bit of investigation of the term 'scissor keep'.

Since a thimble keep is a container for a thimble, I would expect a scissor keep to be a container or cover for a pair of scissors. This however, is not how the term is commonly used. Mostly 'scissor keep' refers to a tab of some kind that attaches to a pair of scissors and enables you to locate them.The cover for a pair of scissors,  is usually called a scissor fob or case.

Now that I have got my head around that, I can confidently say that I have finished the Toy Chest's scissor keep!

This is what my linen canvas now looks like. There are two pieces - the back and front of the pincushion, out of the photo at the top.

Toy chest etui: Scissor keep, side one

As I reach each piece of the Toy Chest contents on my laid-out fabric, I am now finding more and more done because of the thread ends I have used up. I can see it won't be too long before I will run out of places to use those ends!

My notes from the BATB workshop indicate the scissor keep is an easy piece to stitch. That was pretty much so. one side is squared rather than curving, and has a basket weave pattern on just over half.

While the basket-weave is straightforward, I found myself thinking of that exercise in coordination - pat your head with one hand and rub your tummy with the other.

The basket-weave pattern is made up of three stitches over a count of four threads. I reckon at least six times I had to unpick my four stitches over four threads!

I did quite a lot of this stitching outside in the sun - now that the weather has warmed up. It is easier to stitch in natural light if I stay out of the glare.

That's why the linen in the photo of the finished item is washed out and shows the sun shining through!










This is now what my 'canvas' looks like.