A saying for every occassion it seams OK OK seems ... I had not heard any of these either but it was interesting reading. Anyone else have any sayings??? sorry I don't know any - at least any that come to mind.

Well there's always: A stitch in time saves 9.
I heard that 1 a lot, growing up, but not really in RE: sewing...... = )

Mother was superstitious, not just about the sewing things.

She was about walking under ladders & God forbid we ever step on a grave. I have a half-sister who was 11 when I was born. Mother must have instilled some of her ideas in her. We had a 97 yr old aunt die Fri. There was only a gravesite service & the funeral home folks had the fake grass all rolled out & TOLD us where to stand. In the middle of this antique, long winded preacher's sermon (not celebration of her life), my sister comes out with "Oh my God! We are standing on graves." She is antsy as all get out trying to figure out how to politely get off & I am wishing she would be still & be quiet.

Mother had many other superstitions & ideas that I will have to try to recall.

She took me to this "Wart remover" once to remove one from my knee. I was in the 10-12 yr range. She had one too & he wished/witched or whatever they called it, on her's first. I laughed from the get go, shook my head in disbelief. When he got through rubbing mother's & talking jibberish, it was my turn & I was still sniggering. He told mother that it wouldn't work on me because I did not believe it would & he would be wasting his time. Since wart removers hadn't been invented, she told him to do his magic anyway. I laughed thru my treatment & all way home. Her's came off & mine didn't.

She took me to another one who looked at mine & talked to me. I was instructed, in her absence, to STEAL her dirty dishcloths & rub them across it & bury them in the yard so many feet from the edge of the foundation of the house. She started missing the dishcloths & my wart stayed right where it was. I had to finally tell her what I was told to do. I guess that treatment turned expensive due to having to replace her "dish rags" & she gave up on taking me to witch doctors.

I wouldn't call it a superstition, but I have learned the hard way to stop sewing when I start getting tired. It's always so tempting to keep going, but invariably I wind up working with the seam ripper the next day.

I've heard the one about not starting a garment on a Friday. My Mother used to tell me some of the old sayings, but I forgotten most of them. I have heard that you shouldn't give someone a pair of scissors because you will cut the friendship.

My Mom always said not to say "thank you" when someone gives you a plant or it will surely die. I don't think my Mom actually believed in the old sayings, but she repeated them and we would laugh about them.

Here is one that I found on the following url:

http://embroidery.embroiderersguild.com/2003-6/green.htm

'Before handing the needles over, the giver should remove one needle from the packet and prick the recipient; apparently this will protect them from any further ill fortune. It sounds barbaric but at least we now know what to buy irritating acquaintances for Christmas. Just make sure you explain it's an age-old custom before you stab them in the arm!'

Mary Ann, mother had your two about not thanking for plants but her's was never give knives as gifts instead of scissors.
Scissors may have been an issue though & could be the answer to why she still used her old ones. After she died, I found a pair of Wiss & a pair of Ginger ones I'd given her 15-25 years before her death...still secure in the packages.

My sweet MIL always reminded me not to thank her when she gave me a plant. You can say "I know I will enjoy this" or "I have the perfect place for it" or "Can't wait to see it bloom" but you never say "Thank You."

I always heard that you include a coin when giving a knife or knives as a gift so you don't "cut the friendship." When I worked in retail, some customers actually would have me tape a coin onto the knife before I wrapped it.

If you drop scissors, it means your lover is being unfaithful to you.

This one has nothing to do with sewing, but I know people who are believers that you should always leave through the same door you came in or otherwise it is bad luck.

Joan, you and I had the same "mother"! My mom considered herself a modern women, but still kept her old German ways of doing things, like the don't sew on Sunday, on New Years Day, she always found time to sew a pillow case, this was to hold all your win falls that come during the new year, and yu could not leave anything undone on the last day of the year as it would stay that way for the next year.
as for sewing my MIL was a Cajun lady, she believed that to drop a needle, it had to be found right away, or it would find it's way from a foot into someones heart. I am guessing that would be an old wives tale as probably blood poison would maybe set in a long time ago from a wound.and as a little kid I remember her saying that to laugh before 7 you would cry by 11. I was so worried about that one, I think that was a good way to keep kids from waking everybody up with their play, boy lots of old one coming back! rene

I too was not allowed to sew on Sunday, although my mother doesn't say not to anymore. Not related to sewing, but as a child I was told not to step on cracks in the sidewalk "step on a crack, break your mother's back".

Mother's New Year thing didn't include the pillowcase & I don't recall having tasks left undone & staying that way, but NewYear's was worse than doing anything on Sunday.

Whatever chore you did on New Year's you would do EVERYDAY the coming year. My phone call was always started by "What are you doing?" & my answer was always some chore. For working people, you take every opportunity offered on an off day to "catch up" on things. She was always reminding me of what I was setting myself up for.

I don't remember mother & the door thing but I have had people to refuse to, or insist to, not leave from a door they didn't enter.

My daughter repeats the crack one. Don't know where she got it. I lived in the country & was not around sidewalks much as a child but mother may have told it to her.

Where I come from, there is an old belief that when you give a knife as a present, the person receiving the knife must give you a coin back to make it a financial transaction, because otherwise the friendship will be cut apart.

There is also a belief that you must never ask a person for cuttings of their flowers - the cuttings should be stolen because then they will grow better.

One of the things Mother(Joansews) didn't mention was MaMa had this crazy idea about making baby things before the baby was born, or before you were pregnant. I wanted her to make something for me (to put up) and she flat out refused. I guess those baby bibs I begged mother for at 18 years old that had trim on them that she had used on my things cursed me! LOL! 36 now and there's no babies on the horizon.
Susan

Rene,
I was always told that sewing a pillowcase on New Years was to sew up all of your troubles. My grandma was VERY superstitious. About everyday, one of the old superstitions comes to mind. I didn't always know what the consequences were to be, but If I carried a garden tool into the house, or rocked a chair with no one in it, she would get really upset. A bird in the house meant something (bad of course). A turned up hem meant that you were going to get married. We were'nt allowed to walk on a grave, or sing in bed or at the table. Any gift of a purse or wallet must include a coin. We were told that if you came in one door and out the other, it would bring company.

Step on a crack, break your mother's back
Step on a hole, break your mother's sugar bowl!
Shaymay

Gees, this brings back memories. Here is some folklore my mother passed on:

Always include a coin with a gift of a purse or wallet for good luck to the receiver.

Step on sidewalk cracks to break the Devil's dishes.

Place a needle or pin into a piece of cloth when passing to someone, or your relationship could be ruined.

Never allow anyone to pick up a dropped glove, for it is bad luck for them.

Three on a match (lighting cigarettes)was bad luck.

Throw spilled salt over you left shoulder or you will have bad luck.

Thread tension can only be adjusted "from the top".

My Mom has no superstitions...But I read once that it is bad luck to sew clothing while some one is wearing it. I mentioned this to a colleague who wanted me to replace a button for him, he said "I know...Unless the person in the clothes holds a thread in his mouth." He broke a piece of thread off the spool and held it in his mouth until I finished sewing on his button!

My Italian Mother in law often gave wallets or pocketbooks as gifts, and she always enclosed some cash. Her way of wising wealth for the recipient.My own mother (German descent) said you must never leave milk out during a thunderstorm, because it would curdle.Neither superstition involves sewing, yes I know.

they all wasy say you should pay for scissors, not be given them as this cuts a friendship !

I rarely come to this board, I'm usually way past my bedtime reading other forums first. But this topic caught my eye. My mother, from eastern Europe, had many superstitions - some of which were mentioned above. We were not allowed to sing in the morning, as we'd 'cry before nighttime.' We also could not sew a button or repair an item of clothing while a person was wearing it without chewing on a thread. A gift of a wallet had to include some change in it. We could never step over a person sitting or laying on the floor - if we did so, they 'wouldn't grow' unless we stepped back over them the other way.

What is really odd is how these pieces of folklore are passed on. In a discussion with some of my middle-school students some of them also mentioned the 'chewing on thread while sewing' - these students came from the island of Jamaica.

My grandparents and my Mom thoroughly instilled the no sewing on Sunday rule. if you really had to, you had to put a piece of wood in your mouth. A kitchen match worked for that.

According to my mother, when a new quilt was finished in the house, two unmarried children would hold the ends of the quilt making a kind of hammock. A cat would be placed in it. They would then shake the quilt and the end that the cat came out of indicated which of the two children would marry first.

Re sewing on Sunday..my aunt used to say "the bible says when the ox is in the ditch, you have to get him out"...meaning if it's necessary, then do it!

Yep my Italian Grandmother and mom were both into the "you don't start a sewing project on Friday" .. so I would always cut the fabric on Thursday .. LOL!