My New Antique Spool Cabinet

I have the sweetest story to share.

A couple of weeks ago. I showed my husband an advertisement for an estate sale in a nearby neighborhood. The photos showed lots of antique furniture and included a marvelous original Clark’s spool cabinet. I mentioned that I had always wanted one quite badly and hoped I would have the energy to go in the morning. (My auto-immune condition leaves me quite tired most days).

The next morning while I blissfully overslept, that darling man got up early, very quietly made coffee, and left the house. As I sleepily shuffled to the coffee maker later that morning, he proudly walked through our front door with the cabinet in his arms.

 Y’all, I can’t stop grinning like a love-sick schoolgirl… I finally have a spool cabinet to display on top of my vintage pattern cabinet!!!

 And of course, as any good vintage item does, this one came with a couple of little surprises tucked inside.

 The original owner had kept a newspaper clipping from the 90s showing a similar but larger cabinet.

 And underneath a layer of old paper in another drawer was a pencil note pricing skeins of thread at 6 cents each.

The interior drawer wood was rather rough so rather than sanding it down, I lined the drawers with tissue paper and replaced the missing drawer dividers with cardboard until I can make the time to cut some wooden ones.

Rather than using it to store my spools of thread, I decided to keep my collection of vintage embroidery floss inside.

 This is my favorite thread to use when I embroider lingerie, as the Royal Society Celesta threads are glossy and look marvelous when paired with silk fabric for that extra-special touch.

 This lovely little spool cabinet now has a home on one of the McCall pattern cabinets in my studio. It fits perfectly with my original Simplicity counter advertisements!

I found this late 1940s pattern cabinet on the Facebook marketplace last year. It had been used as a tool cabinet and was covered in grease, but two full days of tlc got it back in shape.

My studio looks more like a sewing pattern museum with every new find!