It's no surprise that I love sewing notions - both vintage and new. I do a lot of sewing, both for the business and personal things. I'm in a huge sewing mood these days, so I've been using a lot of my sewing notions and accessories lately.
They also show up in the model photos we do for our patterns. It's pretty rare for a photo to have absolutely no thread or scissors or buttons or something in it.
I found a few new things last week on a trip to our favorite flea market/vintage market. One was a ziploc bag full of sewing notions and it included this brass card case with these things in it:
Neither Jimmy nor I had any idea what these are. Anybody know?
Some of the things I find get used and some are just for show. But I love them all!
Do you have a favorite vintage or new sewing notion?
Perfume viles in the brass case?
I'm Robin, the designer behind October House. You've found my journal, where I talk about stitching, sewing and anything else that might catch my fancy!
Make something beautiful today!
"My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read." - Abraham Lincoln
Chris R
May 05, 2026
I did a Google image search and it stated “The items in the image are vintage perfume nips, which were glass or plastic ampoules used as single-use perfume samples, primarily popular between the 1920s and 1950s. To use them, you would hold the ampoule horizontally and break off both ends to release the fragrance. The tips of the glass tubes are often color-coded to identify different scents. A major manufacturer of these in the United States was Nips, Inc.” So MJ Sanchez was correct.