Marrying two exceptionally popular topics—needlework and women's history—this book provides an authoritative yet entertaining discussion of the diversity and importance of needlework in Victorian women's lives.
An accomplished, properly feminine Victorian girl was expected to work magic with her fingers. Her needlework demonstrated beauty, creativity, femininity, Christian charity, social engagement, and intellectual ability. Depending on her class, it might also mean economic survival. Skill with a needle was critical to a Victorian woman's identity—and it provides modern readers with an important key to her culture.
Victorian Needlework explores these ubiquitous pastimes—their practice and their meaning in women's lives. Covering the period from 1837–1901, the book looks specifically at the crafts themselves examining quilting, embroidery, crochet, knitting, and more. It discusses required skills and the techniques women used as well as the technological innovations that influenced needlework during this period of rapid industrialization.
This book is unique in its comprehensive treatment of the topic ranging across class, time, and technique. Readers will learn what needlework meant to "ladies," for whom it was a hobby reflecting refinement and femininity, and discover what such skills could mean as a "suitable" way for a woman to make a living, often through grueling labor. Such insights are illustrated throughout with examples from women's periodicals, needlework guides, pattern books, and personal memoirs that bring the period to life for the modern reader.
Features
• Patterns and illustrations from women's periodicals and pattern books of the time provide a window into Victorian life that will be especially intriguing to the legions who practice these crafts today
• Quotations from memoirs, works of fiction, and poetry allow readers to share the experiences of women of the period
Highlights
• Offers the first inclusive study of the relevance of needlework to Victorian women of all classes and skill levels through all the decades of the British Victorian period
• Covers the types of needlework practiced by Victorian woman, as well as their tools, available resources for patterns and inspiration, and changes over time
• Describes with clarity and detail techniques of specific genres, such as crochet, knitting, lacework, Berlin wool work, embroidery, patchwork, and quilting
• Explores literary contexts and examples of needlework in the Victorian novel
Kathryn Ledbetter, PhD, is professor of English at Texas State University, San Marcos, where she teaches 19th-century British literature. Her published works include British Victorian Women's Periodicals: Beauty, Civilization, and Poetry; Tennyson and Victorian Periodicals: Commodities in Context; and "Colour'd Shadows": Contexts in Publishing, Printing, and Reading Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers (with Terence Allan Hoagwood), as well as many articles on British literature and culture. She is a professional quilt appraiser, award-winning quilter, and teacher of public programs on Victorian needlework and women's history.
Endorsements
"Needlework enthusiasts as well as students of women’s history and the Victorian era will welcome this authoritative look at the practice and importance of needlework in women’s lives during Britain’s Victorian era. The engaging text, richly embellished with quotes from primary sources, takes us into a world where the needle arts were at once occupation, hobby, and identity. It’s all here—from descriptions of the punishing labor often required to earn a living through needlework, to an explanation of the myriad needlework genres, to specifics on the tools of trade."—Katherine J. Adams Quilt Curator, Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin
"In Victorian Needlework, Kathryn Ledbetter has provided an engaging and comprehensive account of the types, technologies, and portrayals of sewing in Victorian literature and culture. This book combines expansive and detailed historical research with an infectious appreciation for this fascinating topic. It will appeal alike to students, scholars, and enthusiasts of needlework and Victorian culture."—Dr. Patricia Zakreski, Author of Representing Female Artistic Labour, 1848-1890 Teaching Fellow, Department of English, University of Exeter
"A must have reference book for anyone interested in needlework. From 'women's work' to needle arts and crafts- a fascinating evolution. I especially loved the chapter tracing needlework through British fiction!"—Jen Jones, Antique Quilt Collector, Dealer, and Author, The Welsh Quilt Centre
