Mandy’s Top Ten Facts Rotary Cutters, Scissors and Thimbles
You can never have too many pairs of scissors!
The rotary cutter was only invented in 1979 for use with dressmaking, Quilters soon adopted it for cutting. What would we do without one?
In contrast, scissors were first used by the Egyptians in 1500bc.
The Romans invented a scissor in 100AD, similar to that of which
we know today.Robert Hinchcliffe of Sheffield England should be acknowledged as the father of modern scissors. He was the first to use steel and mass produced them in 1761.
At one point, there were once over 70 scissor manufacturers in Sheffield making scissors. But now with the influx of cheap imports and mass production, the Sheffield scissors industry is in a deep decline and only two companies remain, Ernest Wright are one of them.
Folklore says if you place a pair of scissors under your pillow at night towards the ninth month of pregnancy, this will ’cut the cord’ and prompt labour.
Don’t hand scissors to your best friend, you risk severing your relationship!
The oldest existing thimble is Roman and was found in the ruins of Pompeii, although it is thought all civilisations used thimbles made from bone and leather, but these examples did not survive.
In the early 18th century, John Lofting invented a horse-powered thimble knurling machine which allowed him to produce over two million thimbles a year from his factory in London.
People who collect thimbles are known as Digitabulists
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