Stitches in time | 11 October 2018

I recently read a book in which the author, describing rural life in the early 19th century, casually mentioned clothing as being ‘all made in the home’. I laughed. Anyone who has ever tried to sew anything (let alone make an entire family’s wardrobe by hand) would not be so cavalier about the amount of labour involved. But it is typical of how a female trade tends to be dismissed as something anyone (well, women) can do in their spare time, as a picturesque hobby. Nobody similarly suggests that farmers in the 1800s made all their own furniture or saddles. But just like those items, clothing was made by people who made clothing for a living. Most people bought or inherited their clothes — often second-hand — and only the rich owned more than a couple of outfits.

The history of ‘women’s work’ being devalued is very much a part of textile history, from the lace-makers of 17th-century Flanders to the Japanese silk factory workers of the 19th century.