Vintage History: Chinese Sewing Baskets
When I was a child, my grandmother used a Chinese sewing basket, its delicate weaving covered in glass beads and rings as well as metal coins and tassels. Though I was obsessed with it, I wasn't allowed to touch it because I might lose the beads. I would have. Today, it sits in my bedroom, still as bedazzled as it was back then.
These lidded baskets were popular in 1800s China, often filled with sewing notions and given as bridal gifts. Around 1880, they began being imported to the United States in the thousands, some covered in adornments, others minimal, others plain. They came in a variety of sizes—usually between five and fourteen inches in diameter—and were woven from cane, grasses, rushes, willow, honeysuckle, or bamboo.
These baskets, primarily produced near Canton, Guangdong province, stayed popular in the U.S. until around 1930. You can find one in our Green Witch Poison Set—and look for more in coming months.
If you'd like to learn more about these gorgeous baskets, check out Chinese Sewing Baskets by Betty-Lou Mukerji.
Something else you’d like to know the history of? Ask away.
