It’s easy to envisage a little girl’s feelings while working on her sampler: pride and satisfaction at having completed a task, a desire for approval and acceptance from her parents, and knowledge of the frustration that comes with tough and time-consuming work. Handiwork was undeniably important for elite girls’ and boys’ education in early modern Europe. The girls acquired not just sewing but also diligence, duty, and obedience via craftsmanship, which had been passed down through generations of female intellectual company and labour. Learning needlework, on the other hand, was fundamental for females’ education, although manual skills were never as important a gendered practice for boys’ education. Handiwork has been an important part of elite girls’ education for generations.
Embroidery needlework was a pleasurable pastime for men, but it was an everyday activity for women, who began doing it at a young age as an expression of feminine values and talents that represented not just the girls but also their families. In these instances of embroidering men, the gendered practises of needlework and the power connotations associated with feminine and masculine domains of life are effectively depicted. Individuals could also flirt and produce sensual tension by fully consciously using their skills in hand-based activities such as stitching. Fine stitching, on the other hand, was definitely an occasion for mixed-gender socialising, with all sexes appreciating it. goldontheweb
Women stitched their hopes and anxieties of future marriage, married life, childbirths, and funerals in an embroidered, quilted bridal blanket while socialising in mixed-gender groups. Bridal linen, which girls sometimes made and embroidered for years, expressed pride and satisfaction in their maker’s talents and familial ties, as well as the excitement of starting a new chapter in life as a married lady. Other significant links between parents and children were expressed in clothing fashioned by mothers for their boys or by sons for their moms, showing love and devotion through artefacts that the loved ones could wear or take with them, feeling the materials and remembering loved ones.
Needlework, particularly complex embroideries, displayed a woman’s achievements, diligence, taste, and family rank in the church, at home, or on a person. Elite women gave frontals and other ecclesiastical textiles they created to churches, demonstrating the importance of religion in elite society as well as the social standing and feminine attributes of the textile maker. Aprons, gowns, carpets, tapestries, furniture covers, fire screens, blankets, pocketbooks, handkerchiefs, and waistcoats were among the many items made by privileged women. As a result, women’s work was both profane and sacral. digitallabstudios
When ladies were alone or otherwise deprived of the company of family and friends, they often utilised stitching to pass the time. They could utilise this time to improve their home’s interior design and comfort. Some of the artefacts made and received were significant marks of affection, friendship, and a sense of obligation, and not all of the work was done purely for domestic use. Sewing clothing for their children took up a lot of time for women. However, married women’s restricted ability to construct anything for themselves or others was due to a lack of time for elaborate sewing.
Quilting’s technique and the size of a blanket meant that the job could take months, if not years, to complete, and it was sometimes done with a big frame around which numerous women could gather to work together. These were opportunities for younger ladies to learn about needlework and women’s life from older women. It’s worth noting, however, that despite their readiness to give gifts, males produced handicraft that was possibly on a smaller scale than that produced by women. From early childhood to the end of life, women’s craftsmanship was an integral part of their existence.
The manufacture of needlework allowed for mixed-gender socialisation and provided the opportunity for both women and men to meet potential marriage partners. Quilting’s technique and the size of a blanket meant that the job could take months, if not years, to complete, and it was sometimes done with a big frame around which numerous women could gather to work together. These were opportunities for younger ladies to learn about needlework and women’s life from older women.
Handiwork was not just present on happy occasions; it could also provide comfort in sad times, whether it was because of the loss of loved ones or because one’s expectations for the future were never realised. Linen with initials was common, but high-quality linen was also passed down from mother to daughter, tying generations of women’s labour, abilities, and emotions to the contents of a linen cabinet.
Women conversed with each other or with men, listened to reading, or worked silently in mixed-gender elite sociability needlework. Handiwork was as varied as any other type of female labour. Needlework provided elite women with a diverse range of work, from simple stitching to ambitious creative endeavours, as well as a diverse range of emotions contained in the products they created. Needlework was essential for everyday sociability at the royal courts, and it provided women with opportunities for artistic endeavours using exquisite materials and intricate embroidery digitizing designs.
Women’s agency was channelled via handiwork, which provided mental spaces for both happy and negative feelings. Women sewed in the garden and at social gatherings, but most of their work was done at home. Handiwork can also be used to alleviate negative emotions such as sadness or boredom. Similarly, the artefacts created by the elites elicited conflicting reactions from their contemporaries and continue to do so today, which is a compelling cause to dig more into early modern elite handicrafts.
