A truly exciting find. This 10 drawer cabinet with original drawer pulls was built for haberdashery use and takes reels or spools of different sizes in 9 of the 10 drawers. The 10th bottom drawer is for other haberdashery items. Originally built for retail this stylish cabinet would grace any sewing room and is in excellent condition. It measures 12 x 31 x 46cm and truly is a thing of beauty.
History of cotton reel cabinets
Hand sewing machines were invented in 1844 and popularised by the Singer company in the 1850's. These were hand and foot powered machines. Electrically powered machines began to appear around 1889. With the advent of home sewing a whole new industry of supporting products sprang up, one of these was the production and sale of ready spun and coloured sewing threads wound on wooden spools or reels.
Of course the thread manufacturers had to supply stores with the means to store and display the spools of threads and cabinets were made for this purpose. As competition was high in this new market the cabinets were often made of superior woods and some were labelled by the manufacturers.
