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Quote:

Originally Posted by cpfrog (Post 7008472)

... also when giving a gift of scissors or a knife, place a coin with it for good luck (??)....another ol' wives tale?

tradition in our family was that you never "gave" someone a blade, lest it be unlucky. even when i got my first pocket knife from my dad when i was 11, i had to "pay" him a penny, so it would be an "honest" blade. the tradition goes on--a gift of cutlery of any kind "needs" to be paid for, and often, a penny is included so the giver can be paid.

I found this. The pulling through the ring seems to be a "hand" test, to guage the fabric.

https://books.google.com/books?id=3a...20ring&f=false

Quote:

Originally Posted by quiltmouse (Post 7010101)

I found this. The pulling through the ring seems to be a "hand" test, to guage the fabric......

Quiltmouse,
I read what you posted, but really doubt it has anything to do with the ca. 1780 quilt I was mentioning, as the linen was woven for personal use as far as I could tell, rather than for retail use. And the "ring" in the article was unlikely to have been a "finger" ring, which was definitely used for my quilt's fabric.

Interesting facts, though. :)

Jan in VA

My mom volunteers at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah and I just called her. She said she's heard of a coin sewn in quilts before and she thinks it's for luck...she's volunteering tomorrow so will ask the historians the significance...but yes, she's familiar with the custom, just does not know the whole story. It wouldn't be a penny carried in the wedding if it was sewn in the wedding quilt because those quilts are made long before a wedding...most were kept in hope chests. But it could have been a later quilt using the wedding penny. Maybe we'll know tomorrow evening.

How exciting for both of you. I'm jealous!

Yes, I received a knife from a Doctor as a gift and there was a penny taped to the knife, I found out I was suppose to give the penny back to this doctor so I would never cut myself with the knife.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cpfrog (Post 7008472)

... also when giving a gift of scissors or a knife, place a coin with it for good luck (??)....another ol' wives tale?

It is considered good luck. They do not know where the custom originates or much about it, but occasionally, you'll find a coin sewn in the corner of a quilt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 0tis (Post 7006934)

My friend has a vintage quilt that her great grandmother sewed and in one corner of the quilt - it feels like there is a penny sewn inside the quilt. Has anyone ever heard of this? I know I have accidently left pins but never money. I just wonder if it was an accident or if there is a reason to sew a penny into a quilt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJ Quilter (Post 7007130)

My grandmother believed that you put a penny in your shoe on your wedding day for luck. Even had a special little blue pouch for it. She gave that to me when I married. Perhaps it WAS the wedding penny. When my cousin's daughter was married a few years ago, I lent her the penny/pouch as her 'something borrowed'. She and I were our grandmother's favorites. I did make sure I got it back though!

the Victorian era rhyme was "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in her shoe."
No self-respecting Irish or Scots bride would marry without that 6-pence… Those coins were then sewn into a piece of household-use bed linens to keep the good luck going, especially to bless the marriage bed. Quilts were a very durable part of the bedding.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jan in VA (Post 7007403)

I also have a very old quilt which has an interesting quirk about it. The written provenance that came to us with our family quilt dated ca.1790 or earlier (by the Textile Museum at Colonial Williamsburg) includes a statement that the fabric (which turned out to be linen) "was grown, spun, and woven on the plantation through a finger ring." NO ONE in the museum or any antique appraiser has been able to tell me the significance of this.

Yet, as I child I distinctly remember regularly placing a ring over a birthday candle on cakes before the candles were blown out, to make a wish. Mother says she doesn't think we did this at all. I can only assume the idea came form my father's side of the family, from which the quilt also came. And that makes me wonder if this was a regional Virginia idea, maybe Irish or English in origin.

Who knows where these wonderful old traditions originate, as they are so often lost over the years. Sadly.

Jan in VA

I am familiar with Russian Orenburg shawls made of spun goat down, and then combined with silk. A 5’x5’ shawl will pass easily through a ring. Similarly Irish Aran Island baby shawls. I suspect a piece of the linen fabric was thus similarly gauged by this technique. It does not sound at all like a finger weave, but a “fineness” measure of the weave.

Is there a possibility the date on the coin could be the date (at least year) the quilt was made? But I like the idea of a good luck penny better. Everyone needs good luck!