DiMola takes up sewing when he finds 1940s hem marker in junk removal job

DiMola takes up sewing when he finds 1940s hem marker in junk removal job

Me, holding the 1940s hem marker in the apartment cleanout.

Just kidding. I don’t know how to sew and never will, but if I ever wanted to mark my hem, now I could.

Front of hem marker label

Directions on how to use hem marking powder.

As you know, my company is based in Queens, New York but I often do junk removal jobs all over New York City. So yesterday, I was hired to clean out a woman’s apartment on West End Avenue in uptown Manhattan. She had passed away not too long ago, and her son had inherited the place. He wanted me to give him a price estimate to do a complete trash haul.

As I was poking around the place, looking at all the furniture and junk and trash and getting an idea of how much it would cost to remove it, I saw little odds and ends everywhere. The apartment was loaded with stuff, but nothing really caught my eye except this vintage hem marker powder from the 1940s. I didn’t even have to ask if I could keep it; the woman’s son saw how interested I was in the item, so he gave it to me. It’s not like I really need any sewing supplies, but I always like to grab a good antique.

Slogan

It has a tan-and-navy blue label that says “Collins Special Marking Powder.” The bag says, “Our Slogan: ‘A Self Skirt Marker in ever Home'” and “An Even Hem for every Woman.” Something you probably wouldn’t see written today…

Back in the 1940s, women used this powder to mark the hem on a piece of clothing before changing it. That way, there was a perfectly even hem all the way around. The way it works is, you place a ruler-like piece of wood on the floor so that it’s standing straight up in a metal contraption (this tool comes with it, but I actually have one that I found on a different cleanout job). There is a separate tool that connects to the powder and sprays the powder onto the garment as you twirl in a circle to mark the entire hem. Pretty clever.

Best of all, this was made in the homeland — New York City.

DiMola Bros Rubbish Removal
1640 Summerfield St.
Ridgewood, NY 11385
Phone: 718-326-6969
Fax: 718-326-7979
NGDimola@aol.com / http://dimolabros.com

~ by DiMolaBros1956 on May 27, 2011.