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Patreon Dispatches from the Curiosity Shop 01: Historic but Unsettling Antique Sewing Kits

There’s absolutely nothing strange about getting a free sewing kit from a funeral home, right?

Sewing kits have shown up in some very confusing places throughout history, and in this patreon-only mini-episode, you can marvel at what kinds of companies did–and sadly didn’t–produce sewing kits to advertise their products or services.

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Curiosity Shop Show Notes:

Here are links to the sources and resources we used while researching this episode:

Links to research materials: 

• WWI sweetheart souvenirs: https://www.rubylane.com/item/1575091-BLA04681/Antique-WW1-Sweetheart-Souvenir-Sewing-Needle
• 1893 Columbian Exhibition Chicago World’s Fair Victorian Mauchline Ware Needle Case & Darning Egg (Just don’t stay at H. H. Holmes’s World’s Fair Hotel): https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1893-worlds-fair-mauchline-ware-1720918253 
• A combination funeral home and life insurance company advertisement sewing kit: https://www.ebay.com/i/362446565289 
• Funeral home advertising sewing kit: https://www.ebay.com/i/383506793384 
• Yet another funeral home advertising sewing kit: https://www.ebay.com/i/174299863128 
• Las Vegas sewing kit (make sure you check for bodies): https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/IsQAAOSwRMhdNk7-/s-l400.jpg 
• Oil Dealer Kit: https://www.ebay.com/i/192444462823 
• Calvert Whiskey sewing kit (which seems like a horrible idea): https://www.ebay.com/i/233425946385 
• Vintage Lydia E. Pinkham’s, Vegetable Compound, Blood Medicine, Sanative Wash, Liver Pills Sewing Kit: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-lydia-pinkmans-blood-medicine-1910839592 
• A flapper choking on measuring tape, which is not at all unsettling: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/2a/1c/46/2a1c46b50e447489a212845363e1908d.jpg 
• An ominous ivory boot sewing kit, in case you feel especially uncomfortable about animal endangerment, but fashion: https://caseantiques.com/item/lot-658-collection-of-ivory-sewing-notions-25-pcs/ 
• Bullet-shaped burglary and casualty insurance sewing kit from Baltimore: https://www.rubylane.com/item/398016-7695/US-F-G-Etui-Aluminum-Thread 
• 1970s phone-shaped sewing kit from a phone company: https://www.etsy.com/listing/714321928/vintage-1970s-advertising-gte-general 
• Doll sewing kits (which is a whole different creepy episode: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/18519976_ten-sets-of-antique-doll-s-sewing-kits-width-of-widest?from=alert 
• OH MY GOD VINTAGE DOLL PINCUSHION, I WILL NEVER SLEEP AGAIN: https://www.rubylane.com/item/398016-8479/Vintage-Doll-Pincushion-Satin-Sections-Jointed?search=1