Photograph of a pair of knickers made from a flour sack.
These women’s knickers were made in Tiree from a flour sack in the first quarter of the 20th century. The isolation of the crofting community on Tiree made it necessary to make do with the materials to hand.
The knickers were sewn by machine with flat seams and decorated with hand-made tatting round the legs. The waist may have been elasticated or tightened with a drawstring.
Flour was purchased in 140 lb (65 kg) sacks made from closely woven cotton. The seams would have been unpicked and the material plastered with black soap (‘siaban dubh’) to remove the printing before putting it outside to bleach in the sun. The flour producer’s name, Harter, is still visible.
Probably made at the end of the 19th century by Donald MacLean of Whitehouse, Cornaigbeg, this wooden vat (known in Gaelic as a ‘fiodhan’) would have been used until the 1950s to make cheese.
Standing 165 mm high and with a diameter of 250 mm, the staves are bound with two iron hoops. Holes have been drilled in the sides and base to allow the whey to drain out.
The curds wrapped in muslin would be put in the vat and the lid placed on top. This would be weighted with stones or screwed down in a cheese press for about a week.
Cardboard egg box. Brown cardboard lidded eggbox, 242 x 190 x 73 mm, printed with `eggs with care` and lines for sender and addressee, containing corrugated cardboard insert for one dozen eggs.
Every Tiree croft had its chickens in the old days and eggs were a useful way to buy things from the shops if you had no money. In the Second World War, the airmen on Tiree were nicknamed the Royal Egg Force because of their fondness for them.
