Read more
Zusatztext An important contribution to the study of female achievement in the provision of simple but essential clothing and household linens. Across three centuries, using original documents and artistic and literary sources, this book offers a fresh perspective on the role of seamstresses in relation to dress history. Informationen zum Autor Pam Inder Klappentext Shirts, Shifts and Sheets of Fine Linen explores how the jobs of the 'seamstress' evolved in scope, and status, between 1600-1900. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, seamstressing was a trade for women who worked in linen and cotton, making men's shirts, women's chemises, underwear and baby linen; some of these seamstresses were consummate craftswomen, able to sew with stitches almost invisible to the naked eye. Few examples of their work survive, but those that do attest to their skill. However, as the ready-to-wear trade expanded in the 18th century, women who assembled these garments were also known as seamstresses, and by the 1840s, most seamstresses were outworkers for companies or entrepreneurs, paid unbelievably low rates per dozen for the garments they produced, notorious examples of downtrodden, exploited womenfolk. Drawing on a range of original and hitherto unpublished sources, including business diaries, letters and bills, Shirts, Shifts and Sheets of Fine Linen explores the seamstress's change of status in the 19th century and the reasons for it, hinting at the resurgence of the trade today given so few women today are skilled at repairing and altering clothes. Illustrated with 60 images, the book brings seamstresses into focus as real people, granting new insights into working class life in 18th- and 19th-century Britain. Vorwort An examination of the profession of ‘seamstress’ and how it changed from being a respected craft in the 17th and early 18th centuries to being a symbol of downtrodden womanhood in the 19th century. Zusammenfassung Shirts, Shifts and Sheets of Fine Linen explores how the jobs of the ‘seamstress’ evolved in scope, and status, between 1600-1900. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, seamstressing was a trade for women who worked in linen and cotton, making men’s shirts, women’s chemises, underwear and baby linen; some of these seamstresses were consummate craftswomen, able to sew with stitches almost invisible to the naked eye. Few examples of their work survive, but those that do attest to their skill. However, as the ready-to-wear trade expanded in the 18th century, women who assembled these garments were also known as seamstresses, and by the 1840s, most seamstresses were outworkers for companies or entrepreneurs, paid unbelievably low rates per dozen for the garments they produced, notorious examples of downtrodden, exploited womenfolk. Drawing on a range of original and hitherto unpublished sources, including business diaries, letters and bills, Shirts, Shifts and Sheets of Fine Linen explores the seamstress’s change of status in the 19th century and the reasons for it, hinting at the resurgence of the trade today given so few women today are skilled at repairing and altering clothes. Illustrated with 60 images, the book brings seamstresses into focus as real people, granting new insights into working class life in 18th- and 19th-century Britain. Inhaltsverzeichnis List of PlatesList of IllustrationsList of TablesAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. ‘The Art and Mystery of Simistry’ in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries2. ‘Well-handed Needlewomen’3. The Development of Ready-to-Wear4. ‘Linnen Drapery at Reasonable Rates’ 1720-18205. Slops and Slop-sellers6. ‘Seam and Gusset and Band’7. ‘Society came and shuddered’8. Bespoke Needlework9. Real Lives10. The Seamstress in Art and LiteratureConclusionNotesBibliographyImage sourcesIndex...
