Introducing the Needle Dames

Unique Needle Minders from Needle Dames

Ginny Stapleton has taken her love of stitching to Etsy where she is selling unique needle minders made from vintage Adagio jewelry, specifically the beautiful porcelain faces set with rhinestones for eyes and occasionally used as other embellishments.  You can see the current offerings here.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/NeedleDames?ref=l2-shop-info-name

Ginny asked me if I would review these for her and sent me "Phoenix" who is painted as a Native American Indian from Arizona.  You can see the package Phoenix arrived in on the left.  There is a cute little drawstring bag with the magnet on a card and a round metal magnet on the other side so she can adorn your canvas (or your collar).  Ginny also included her business card.  These were wrapped in tissue paper and shipped in a padded envelope so there was no danger that Phoenix would be chipped or marred in transit.

Phoenix at Work

Phoenix's face is really beautifully painted.  You can see her eyelashes, the pigtails and her headband which is adorned with another rhinestone in this closeup shot.  I put her to work on my current canvas.  The magnet is strong but not strong enough to hold scissors or laying tools.  I don't use my needle magnets that way but if you do, Phoenix and her kin aren't going to hold really heavy items unless you substitute a strong earth magnet for the backing magnet she comes with.  However her magnet holds needles very well, even those placed on top of her face.  I put the needle to the side under her porcelain face so that you could see her lovely features, but needles on top of her face never wavered.  They were held tight by her magnet.

Phoenix is around an inch high and a bit over half an inch wide.  If you like small needle minders like the tiny square silver ones, she is going to seem big to you, but she's two-thirds of the size of most of the Big Buddy magnets from The Meredith Collection, so she is not among the largest magnets available.  Big enough to have personality but not so large she gets in the way, in other words.  I found the size pretty comparable to the magnets I use the most.

Phoenix kept me company for nearly a week, manfully holding 1-3 needles at a time as I worked, never dropping a needle or becoming dinged by my careless handling.  I found her good company, actually, and started talking to her as I stitched, asking her opinion of this thread or that stitch.  I have to say she never talked back, either.  LOL

The variety of Needle Dames is large and I was impressed that they are not all white female visages.  Currently there is a male baseball player among Ginny's stock and there are also black and Hispanic and Native American females among the lovely faces, all awaiting a new home.  These are rather expensive as needle minders go, but these are vintage pieces.  You probably aren't going to see another magnet just like yours if you purchase one, which will appeal to those who like distinctive accessories for their stitching.

Ginny has allowed me to give Phoenix away to a Blog reader.  To enter yourself into the drawing for this unique fashion magnet, please either leave a comment here or email me at chilly hollow at hot mail dot com if the Comment Section doesn't work for you.  I will draw a name at random next Wednesday, May 3rd, and post the result here.  Then Phoenix will come to live on the winner's canvas to silently keep him or her company.

Thanks, Ginny!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright April 15, 2017 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.