Nearly ever child has experienced the disappointment of opening a biscuit tin, only to discover mum or grandma has stashed all sorts of sewing supplies in there. But have you ever wondered why every mum or grandma did this?
The answer may not be as exciting as you'd hoped - it's likely simply because the tin was often decorative, sturdy and good to repurpose. Biscuit tins, cigar boxes, coffee cans, shoe boxes, and glass jars were all reused. Today, groceries often come in single use plastic that prevents the re-use, and we purchase purpose-made plastic containers to organise.
The shape of the cookie tin also made it the preferred tin for storing sewing kits - it is wide and low, making it hard to knock over and easy to see everything inside. A tall skinny coffee tin isn't as useful for storing sewing supplies.
In 1966, Royal Dansk created their distinctive blue tins to keep their cookies fresh. The tins were sturdy, and often very pretty, so people kept them as collectibles. (And they still do, to this day.)
We created the SOHMO Butter Cookies Sewing Kit as an ode to this 'tradition' of keeping sewing supplies in a biscuit tin.
