It’s time for another L&FO. Today we have two vintage sewing needle books. The Springfield Leader and Press newspaper for December 27, 1959 ran a full page ad for Evans Cut-Rite. In it, there was a book of 70 Gold-Eye needles with threader, normally 10 cents, on sale for 7 cents. Other hot sale items were Cannon hand towels, normally 39 cents each, on sale 3 for 88 cents, 24 tablets of Coricidin cold medicine for 69 cents, and a pair of plastic lamp shades on sale for $1.27. Although it doesn’t have an image, these things seem to be similar in the number of needles, putting this rocket Gold-Eye brand of a similar age:

The price of these sewing needle books varied around the country. In the March 18, 1964 Green Bay Press-Gazette, there is this book of 100 with a value of 15 cents, while in Santa Fe a similar book was 20 cents in July 1963.

This Atomic Gold-Eye book is a later date, with more needles than the Rocket and a much higher cost. The basic image hasn’t changed much, swapping out the couple riding on a needle compared a rocket ship.

The cool thing about collecting these is that I can actually use the needles. The books are more convenient than those little disc holders with the channels. I’ve been doing more sewing these days, recently finishing up a Decades of Style Three’s a Charm jacket and currently working on a McCall’s 7313 (C) dress.

If you’re interested in collecting some vintage sewing needle books, there are a ton of them on ebay. I found the Atomic one in a local antique shop. You should be able to get one in good shape with all of the needles for $3 – $8 each. I recently read an article suggesting millennials will still be interested in antiques, but will likely gravitate to items that still have purpose. They may be less likely to collect vases and china, and more likely to collect items they can use in daily life. I’m all for seeing a return to sewing instead of the continued purchase of $15 dresses made in a sweatshop and sold on Amazon.