Tour a Historic New York Ribbon Shop

Walk with HGTV Handmade host and slow crafts creative Rajiv Surendra through East Coast Trimming, a historic ribbon shop in New York City and home of Hyman Hendler & Sons Ribbon, a company that has specialized in selling ribbons since 1906. Rajiv talks shop with third-generation ribbon expert Michael Weisman and shares how to use natural ribbon to make a lavender wand for your linen closet.

By: Rajiv Surendra

Show: HGTV Handmade

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Photo By: Anders Krusberg

A Treasure Trove of Antique Ribbon

Tucked away on West 38th Street, in the fashion district of New York City, is a gem of a shop specializing in trim, lace and beautiful antique ribbon. East Coast Trimming houses the old stock of a company that started in 1906, Hyman Hendler & Sons.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

In the Family

Maida and her husband Michael Weisman are the third generation to have their hands in the family business. Maida's grandfather, Hyman Hendler, started selling ribbons in 1906 from a pushcart on the Lower East Side. By the time Maida's father, Harold Hendler, was running the business in the 1950s, the firm had expanded to selling ribbons under their own label all across the country. Harold became lovingly known as "King of the Ribbon Trade."

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

Ribbon Obsession

“This was my father-in-law’s obsession,” says Michael Weisman, describing the process of how most of the ribbons were designed. Harold would sit at the kitchen table and sketch out patterns or piece together different colors and patterns of existing ribbon with tape. Then he would put everything into airmail envelopes and mail them off to European mills that would weave the custom designs to order.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

Endless Inspiration

The shop feels like stepping back in time. Each time I visit, it’s to buy ribbon for a specific project, but the glass-fronted cupboards full of spools lure me away from my focus, and I can’t help but imagine other uses for the various patterns, textures and sizes of ribbons on display.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

All That Glitters

There’s an entire cupboard full of metallic trim. Some of the spools are over a hundred years old, and much of the metallic trim contains actual metal. There are bits of family history everywhere in the shop; the end of one spool features the face of Maida’s Aunt Gertie whose image was used in a specialty line of products that were once sold in California.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

Silk Velvet

Most commercial ribbon that’s available at craft stores today is made of purely synthetic material; polyester, acetate — stuff I call "plastic ribbon." I am disgusted by this stuff, and it’s disappointing to me that you can’t easily find ribbon made of cotton. There’s a cupboard of vintage velvet Hendler ribbon in the shop, and I love rummaging through to find pure silk ribbon. There’s not a lot of it, but the current owner of the store, Donna Teves (who is very camera-shy), will do a burn test for customers to ensure that the ribbon is pure silk.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

Cotton Grosgrain

East Coast Trimming prides itself in carrying some difficult-to-find material that they have manufactured today by specialty mills. This is a box of vintage cotton Hyman Hendler grosgrain ribbon, but the shop carries modern cotton grosgrain in a huge array of colors and widths.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

A Practical Necessity

Pure cotton grosgrain is a valuable resource for milliners and hat makers who use the cotton grosgrain as sweatbands on the inside of hats. Cotton, a natural fiber, absorbs sweat; polyester does not.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

Brocades

The brocade cupboards feature some of the fanciest ribbon in the shop: vintage Hyman Hendler ribbon that reminds me of the intricate borders of the sarees I grew up seeing my mom wear.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

Brocade Detail

Whenever I’m looking at these beautiful, old supplies from the past, I wonder what they were originally used for. Michael said that many of the ribbons were used on hats and garments, but they were also used, like today, by people who saw them and then came up with a reason or a purpose to create something special.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

For a Present

I love going into the shop to find ribbon for a very special gift-wrapping project. If I’m putting together a significant gift for someone, I’ll have the wrapping paper with me while searching for the perfect ribbon to tie around the gift.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

Color Palettes

The shop is arranged by type of trim, but each section is then further organized by color, making it both inspiring and exciting to narrow your selection down to one specific shelf. This, by no means, makes it easy to pick — I’m often torn between more than one choice!

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

Salesman Samples

These are some old sample books that the company would use to show clients. There was a time when Hyman Hendler & Sons sold their own ribbon in bulk to fabric and craft stores all across the country.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

Handle With Care

It was touching to see how delicately Michael handled each roll of ribbon; he held each spool by its paper edge. He also showed me the correct way to insert a tiny pin into the cut edge of the ribbon to hold it back in place on the spool so that it doesn't pierce through multiple layers of the ribbon.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

Exactly What I Need

Today I’m at the shop to find a very narrow, natural-fiber ribbon, in purple, to use for an annual task: making wonderful fresh lavender wands.

Watch the Video: DIY Lavender Bundle

Historically Accurate

There’s a centuries-old tradition of making these lavender wands to be used in linen closets. Two hundred years ago, all ribbon would’ve been made of natural fibers, but today that’s hard to find. It’s important that the ribbon be made of natural fiber because for this use it encases the flowerheads and needs to allow them to breathe to release their scent.

Watch the Video: DIY Lavender Bundle

Upside Down, Right Side Up

Once the flowerheads are tied together with a long piece of ribbon, flip the bundle upside down and bend all the stems down over the flowerheads.

Watch the Video: DIY Lavender Bundle

Ribbon Weaving

Pull the long end of the ribbon out from the stems and carefully weave it over sections of double stems (two stems grouped together).

Watch the Video: DIY Lavender Bundle

Focusing

The first row is the hardest, and it’s easy to miss some stems in the process, so I always do this slowly and carefully.

Watch the Video: DIY Lavender Bundle

Calculating

However many stems you use, it’s important to calculate how many you need exactly, to enable the ribbon to alternate over and under the stems continually, row after row. If you’re going over and under a single stem, this calculation will be different than if you’re going over and under double stems. Here, I’m using exactly 18 stems to do this properly.

Watch the Video: DIY Lavender Bundle

Basketweave

Use a basket-weave through the stems until the flowerheads are encased completely, and then tightly tie the end of the ribbon around the bunch of stems.

Watch the Video: DIY Lavender Bundle

Finishing

Tie together the bottom of the stems, and then use sharp scissors or shears to trim them to the same length.

Watch the Video: DIY Lavender Bundle

Ready for the Linen Closet

And that’s a finished lavender wand!

Watch the Video: DIY Lavender Bundle

A Niche Market

A visit to East Coast Trimming always leaves me with a smile on my face for the rest of the day. They care about their merchandise, and they care about their customers.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Vintage Ribbon Shop in New York

Top Shelf

It was a real honor to tour the shop with Michael Weisman and to ask him directly about the history of Hyman Hendler & Sons. This is one of the joys of living in New York City — meeting people who lived through another era and still have a passion for beautiful, quality merchandise made with pride.

Tour a Historic New York Ribbon Shop

Related To:

Shop This Look

A Treasure Trove of Antique Ribbon

In the Family

Ribbon Obsession

Endless Inspiration

All That Glitters

Silk Velvet

Cotton Grosgrain

A Practical Necessity

Brocades

Brocade Detail

For a Present

Color Palettes

Salesman Samples

Handle With Care

Exactly What I Need

Historically Accurate

Upside Down, Right Side Up

Ribbon Weaving

Focusing

Calculating

Basketweave

Finishing

Ready for the Linen Closet

A Niche Market

Top Shelf

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