Peek in the past (sewing box)
 

Here's some of the contents from a relative's sewing box I acquired this weekend. Anybody have a clue what the black item near the spools of thread was for? It's solid wood, has lots of marks (from pins?) where paint was scratched off. Also, long handled metal hooks?

There's several long, bamboo like sticks that I haven't got a clue about either. Curved needles are probably from upholstery projects. And, what about the vintage looking tiny curling iron looking thing? I'm confessing to total ignorance on a lot of this.

Didn't know thimbles came in so many sizes either. Also have three different colors of "darning thread." So soft. They didn't throw out socks in those days!

Maybe its a sock darner?

I had that thought too. I have a very faint memory of my mother still darning socks when I was a little girl, but she never had one of those black things.

The black thing is for darning socks. It goes in the sock when darning. The curling iron is exactly that. My mother was a hair dresser when she was very young and she used to heat it up on the stove, that was before electric curling irons.

The black wood egg with the handle is a darning egg for mending. Hair curling iron in your hand. Crachet hooks and double pointed knitting needles and lots of old button hooks for shoes. The pink paper clip thing is for holding knitting loops until they can be picked up later. You also have a couple of bone, ivory or celluloid stelletoes. Nice find.
Skip

Yep that black thing in a sock darner for sure. I doubt anyone darns socks anymore particularly due to what socks are made of now. I still have one of those somewhere that was my Mom's and she used it way back when. And that curling iron thing looks like a hair curling iron but I don't know for sure. You have an interesting collection of sewing history there.

edited: Wow, looks like a bunch of us answered at the same time. Aren't you glad you asked?

Ha, ha, ha. Wonder why she had that curling iron in her sewing box!

The metal hooks near the thread were used to help button high top shoes. The ones with smaller hooks lower in the photo are crochet hooks.

Thank you Glenn. Again, storing button hooks in a sewing box...and there were a lot of packages of shoe laces in there too.

Also, two wooden spools of very fine wire. One is copper looking, the other more of a gun metal, very fine wire. (My father in law may have had something to do with that.)

Yes, indeed, the black object is a darning egg. I have two of them, one from my mother and one from further back. Mine are not decorated and were well used. I used to have to darn my fathers socks with that soft multiple ply thread you referenced. When I first started quilting I used that thread to baste with. But, the thing that strikes me about your box is the fact that it transcends so much time. Goes from button hooks to modern thread. Look at the labels on the thread-Coats and Clark duel duty thread. What a fun thing to have. I remember my grandmother used one of those curling irons she heated on the stove-her salt and pepper gray hair was often yellow-because she scorched it.