Stitching for England

In a roundabout way, this is where my needleworking story begins.

This is my granddad’s army sewing kit.  It dates from the period 1907-1919.

As a young soldier, he had to learn to take care of his own uniform.  During the freezing cold winters of some of his tours, he also learned to knit – partly for something to fill the time, partly for the warmth afforded by the results.

How long since these needles were placed here, exactly as they remain now?!

Immediately upon arriving back home a year after the end of World War I my granddad left the army and married his fiancée of twelve years.  His wife – my grandma – had been working in tailoring.  For some reason she never taught my mother how to use a sewing machine and follow a pattern.  (The angst and drama caused to me as a direct result of that decision is well documented in these pages!)

My granddad, however, did pass on his skills: he taught his daughter to sew and to knit.  Many years later, she – my mother – taught me.  Knitting was my route into needlework, and until my late twenties pretty much the only form of needlecraft I enjoyed.  But since then I’ve branched out and developed a love of many types of needlework which go far beyond my granddad’s knitting for warmth and sewing for necessity.  (It has to be said, too, that my ‘sewing kit’ occupies considerably more cupboard space than this little roll!)

My granddad’s sewing kit belongs to me now.  Although it’s standard issue, it is nevertheless a very personal item, and would have travelled with him to many parts of the world.  It bears his regiment and personal identification details, and contains everything he needed to keep his uniform in full working order: needles, thread, elastic, safety pins, spare buttons…

… and … uhm … here at the back of this pocket …

… a bullet?!!!!

This is the only bullet I have ever seen.  Every time I do I’m astonished all over again by its size.

And curiously, I am yet to discover what possible sewing-related use my granddad might have found for it!

(Edited 21.03.2012: I have now posted an update with more information about the bullet.)