Shirts, Shifts and Sheets of Fine Linen: British Seamstresses from the 17th to the 19th centuries

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 Drawing on a range of original and hitherto unpublished sources, including business diaries, letters and bills, Shirts, Shifts and Sheets of Fine Linen explores the seamstress's change of status in the 19th century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. Cover Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Contents Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction 1 The ‘art and mystery of simistry’ in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Shirts Smocks Neckwear Sleeves Shifts Drawers Children’s Clothes Household Linen Conclusion 2 ‘Well-handed needlewomen’ Economic Background Earnings and Prices Fabric Costs Case Studies The Job of the Seamstress Apprentices Wills Conclusion 3 The development of ready-to-wear Joseph Ashley Other Suppliers Naval Supplies Civilian Slops Exports Conclusion 4 ‘Linnen drapery at reasonable rates’: 1720–1820 Fabric Prices Apprentices The Various Categories of Seamstresses Case Studies Conclusion 5 Slops and slop-sellers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries The Prevalence of Slop-Working Slop-Workers Examples of Ready-made Clothing Conclusion 6 ‘Seam and gusset and band’ ‘Grinders’ and ‘Sweaters’ The First Inquiries The Causes of the Problem The Response Destitution Henry Mayhew Emigration Conclusion 7 ‘Society came and shuddered’ The Sewing Machine ‘Outcast London’ Initiatives to Help The Select Committee on the Sweating System More Initiatives and Inquiries The Sweated Industries Exhibition and Its Aftermath Conclusion 8 Bespoke needlework Lady FitzHerbert Henry Mayhew – Again Other Case Studies Schools and Institutions Shops Servants and Others Charity Conclusion 9 Real lives Seamstresses in Whitechapel in 1851 The Cambridge Charity Organization Society Lady Haberfield’s Almshouses Conclusion 10 The seamstress in art and literature ‘The Song of the Shirt’ Images of Needlewomen Cartoons and Magazines Novels Conclusion Conclusion Notes Bibliography Image Sources Index