A Thimble Party
The Pantagraph seemingly announced every event that occurred within a 75 mile radius of Bloomington. One event that was reported repeatedly was the occurence of a "thimble party." Nowadays we may be puzzled by the thought of a thimble party, but all the ladies knew exactly what was meant.
In yesteryear women felt compelled to be constantly working, and felt guilty if their hands were not always busy with meaningful work. Their husbands might come home, put up their feet and read the paper or snooze, but a woman was expected to continue working through the day, sewing, cooking, cleaning and minding the children. A thimble party was a chance to meet with other ladies and chat, but you were allowed, nay expected, to bring along your mending bag and thimble so that you might work while you socialized.
There were no working golf outings, or working shooting matches for the men.
A thimble party sounds adorable, my mum used to have a whole tin of old thimbles she'd collected from flea markets. I never really got what they were for as a kid, thought they were tiny cups lol. Now I kind of get the appeal, there's something cozy about old sewing stuff. Kinda random but the thrill of hunting for a rare one in a junk shop reminds me of the little rush I get scrolling https://www.bets.io/ , that same "maybe I'll find something good" feeling. Do people actually collect them seriously or is it more of a nostalgia thing?