Every now and then, I come across something on eBay that despite my knowing better, I simply can’t resist. My latest resistance is futile purchase is a collection of about 67 thread and yarn samples from the 1950s, which I purchased for $30 from eBay user Davenport Trading Company. The main reason I couldn’t resist this hoard of bits of paper and scraps of yarn is because I could tell from the photos it contained numerous samples from Lily Mills. I’ve got a bunch of Lily Mills crochet pattern books from the 1930s-1960s but I’ve long struggled to find good examples of Lily Mill’s vintage yarn colors and sizes – which never ceases to amaze me considering just how huge Lily Mills’ market was during its peak!
Just three days later, the bag of goodness arrived. Oh my, oh my, it’s a vintage yarn samples Christmas!
I carefully begin to go through all the cards and papers, doing my best to gently untangle the yarn samples from each other where needed but fortunately, most weren’t too entangled with each other. As I sorted through them, it occurs to me that all of this must have come from an old weaver’s supply store or perhaps from a weaver. The Lily Mills sample cards keep stacking up higher and higher – there were a lot more Lily Mills sample cards than I expected to receive, about 25 of them! I’m thrilled!
To be honest, I’ve always thought of Lily Mills as a supplier and producer of crochet thread and crochet and knitting yarns; I never realized that they had a large weaver’s market. Silly, I know … of course they did! All of these vintage Lily Mills yarn sample cards I’ve dated to the 1950s, most likely between 1952 and 1957. One or two may be from the mid 1940s, but I won’t know until such time I can cross-reference the yarn color numbers with dated pattern books. I will have all of these vintage Lily Mills yarn swatch sample cards scanned and posted here (click link) as soon as possible, hopefully by late tonight!
One gem is this Lily Mills “yarn selector palette” which contains many colorful samples of Pearl 3 cotton. I believe this is from the mid to late 1960s and will post full detailed scans of it along with the sample cards here.
While the Lily Mills thread and yarn swatch cards was the primary reason I acquired this stash, there are numerous other yarn company samples in the bag, companies/brands I’ve never heard of before. Granted, I’m not well versed in the world of weaving and weavers, so I don’t know if companies/brands such as Pent Yarns, Charles Y. Butterworth, Contessa Yarns and others were widely known in the 1950s or not. Regardless, there’s a lot of very nifty old thread, cord and yarn for me to go through!
It’s probably going to take me all week to scan and post all these vintage yarn samples! Totally worth it!
Like what I do? Help support my yarn fund by buying a pattern!