On Plain Needlework

I thought the following quote might interest a great many of you. This
was excerpted from a good friend's web page http://hollisandbell.com

"In olden days, the great occupation of women's life was needlework.
Many are the pictures we have of ladies and their maidens at work on the
tapestry hangings and emblazoning colours for their lords, and many are
the specimens still existing of exquisite point lace, marvelous
kerchiefs, aprons and samplers, etc., which fill us with wonder at the
patience and eyesight of the workers of the past. But in these days of
moral and intellectual improvement women devote themselves to music,
languages, art, politics, physiology, geology, metaphysics and social
reforms. Our exquisite souls soar to realms of poetry and mysticism,
and, as a natural consequence, many homely handicrafts, amongst others
that of plain needlework, have fallen into disrepute, or at least into
disuse.

"Of course we must know all the latest theories respecting light,
chemistry, or telephones; but what can be said on needlework that is
new? This is the point. We do not profess to teach a new thing, but a
new and more interesting mode of teaching an old subject."

~Emily Jones, 1886

At the beginning of the 21st century, I'm afraid that we're not just
changing the "mode of teaching an old subject". We've stopped teaching
many of the subjects entirely.
Dianne

On 10/20/03 5:53 PM, in article ,
"Dianne Lewandowski" wrote:

I thought the following quote might interest a great many of you. This
was excerpted from a good friend's web page http://hollisandbell.com

"In olden days, the great occupation of women's life was needlework.
Many are the pictures we have of ladies and their maidens at work on the
tapestry hangings and emblazoning colours for their lords, and many are
the specimens still existing of exquisite point lace, marvelous
kerchiefs, aprons and samplers, etc., which fill us with wonder at the
patience and eyesight of the workers of the past. But in these days of
moral and intellectual improvement women devote themselves to music,
languages, art, politics, physiology, geology, metaphysics and social
reforms. Our exquisite souls soar to realms of poetry and mysticism,
and, as a natural consequence, many homely handicrafts, amongst others
that of plain needlework, have fallen into disrepute, or at least into
disuse.

"Of course we must know all the latest theories respecting light,
chemistry, or telephones; but what can be said on needlework that is
new? This is the point. We do not profess to teach a new thing, but a
new and more interesting mode of teaching an old subject."

~Emily Jones, 1886

At the beginning of the 21st century, I'm afraid that we're not just
changing the "mode of teaching an old subject". We've stopped teaching
many of the subjects entirely.
Dianne




Interesting - the above requires much thought!

Soon, I will be teaching Girl Scouts crafts, mostly crochet, for projects,
but I am really hoping to hook at least a few of them.
Cheryl

....and so, what do you want us to do? I certainly feel I
have done my share of teaching needlework and bobbin lace over the
years. We can't teach those who don't want to learn. I think many
women who want to learn the needlearts find a way by either joining a
guild or doing correspondence courses.

Many women are pulled in so many directions they have very
little 'me' time. I work 5 days a week, spend at least one of my days
off doing housework and laundry. The other day is often spent running
errands. I am out three nights a week doing volunteer work for my
son's karate club, and one of my work shifts each week is at night, so
of 7 nights I am out 4 of them and spend the other 3 enjoying my
needlework. It's really difficult fitting everything in.

take care, Linda

On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 16:53:16 -0500, Dianne Lewandowski
wrote:
snipped
At the beginning of the 21st century, I'm afraid that we're not just
changing the "mode of teaching an old subject". We've stopped teaching
many of the subjects entirely.
Dianne



Vancouver Island, bc.ca (remove 'nospam' to reply)
See samples of my work at: www.members.shaw.ca/deugau

Again, I'm being "general". When this article was written, sewing was
taught in schools. That's not done much anymore, although some
districts in the U.S. still do to some degree.

Yes, you can join guilds. But many live remotely and that isn't
practical or possible. We tend to forget that, since it isn't routinely
taught (whether sewing or embroidery or lace making), it can be
difficult to learn.

By the way: The term "plain needlework" refers to hand sewing. The two
words that are often used together are "Plain and Fancy". That's why my
message forum is named thus. Sewing and Embroidery. :-)

I just found the quote interesting in that much of what the woman said
in 1886 is oft repeated currently. When you mentioned ". . . those who
don't want to learn", that is exactly what the writer was bemoaning way
back when. :-)

I don't have any answers for this. You are right . . . many are just
too busy. But I often wonder how they found the time in 1820 to raise
many children, cook, clean, wash, mend, and hand sew all their clothing.
Those who had money could hire it out. Those who didn't, did it
themselves. And cooking, cleaning, washing, mending took 7 days a week,
12 hours a day or more. Hard, heavy work. We have so much more
"conveniences", but we still have no time . . . or so we (society)
claim. It seems the more time we have, the "less" time we have.

I just wonder if we're doing ourselves any favors by not knowing how to
do the simplest of tasks anymore. I also know that many simply don't
want to. But I also wonder why? The answers are probably as numerous
as there are people answering it. Some I've read here. But like
religion, I often don't "get" the answers. :-) Of course, that doesn't
matter, because what I personally feel doesn't make the world go around.

Look, I'm not being dogmatic here. I'm just asking the questions. It's
things I ponder myself, for heavens sake. I just dare to ask. I'm not
pointing fingers at any person or culture in particular. Geesh.

Dianne

Linda D. wrote:
....and so, what do you want us to do? I certainly feel I
have done my share of teaching needlework and bobbin lace over the
years. We can't teach those who don't want to learn. I think many
women who want to learn the needlearts find a way by either joining a
guild or doing correspondence courses.

Many women are pulled in so many directions they have very
little 'me' time. I work 5 days a week, spend at least one of my days
off doing housework and laundry. The other day is often spent running
errands. I am out three nights a week doing volunteer work for my
son's karate club, and one of my work shifts each week is at night, so
of 7 nights I am out 4 of them and spend the other 3 enjoying my
needlework. It's really difficult fitting everything in.

take care, Linda

On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 16:53:16 -0500, Dianne Lewandowski
wrote:

snipped
At the beginning of the 21st century, I'm afraid that we're not just
changing the "mode of teaching an old subject". We've stopped teaching
many of the subjects entirely.
Dianne




Vancouver Island, bc.ca (remove 'nospam' to reply)
See samples of my work at: www.members.shaw.ca/deugau

Dianne Lewandowski opined thusly:

But I often wonder how they found the time in 1820 to raise
many children, cook, clean, wash, mend, and hand sew all their clothing.
Those who had money could hire it out. Those who didn't, did it
themselves. And cooking, cleaning, washing, mending took 7 days a week,
12 hours a day or more. Hard, heavy work. We have so much more
"conveniences", but we still have no time . . . or so we (society)
claim. It seems the more time we have, the "less" time we have.




The problem with modern conveniences -- and there have been many a
scholarly treatise regarding them -- is that the time they save is then
spent actually doing more. Consider that standards for laundry were
different in the past. People did not wear a fresh clean set of clothes
every day. The super-rich excepted (aren't they always?), most folks made
do with 2-3 sets of clothing. One for everyday, one for Sundays, and maybe
one additional very special outfit. There were less clothes to wash, and
they were washed less often. So the clothing could all be washed
laboriously by hand on one day and then ironed the next.

Now with the aid of a washer and dryer, we can our laundry in a few hours.
And since it's so easy to wash something - barely lifting a finger - we
grow careless. Washing a bath towel or washrag after one use. Expecting
pristine clothing every morning. Because it's so easy to do the laundry we
don't give dirty clothes a second thought. And wearing soiled clothing (my
husband excepted) is considered abhorent to most folks.

--Regards
--Anne

We learned all of that stuff in Girl Scouts. Granted, I don't remember
much of it due to disuse, but still... I think that it also has to do
with what the leaders of the troop are comfortable teaching. Also, the
Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts are two entirely different organizations.

In your other post you mentioned teaching hand crafts in schools. I
only had to take three years of Home Economics and Industrial Arts (wood
shop) classes (yes, with both boys and girls), and I already knew
everything they taught me in Home Ec. This was in Middle School (ages
11-14) and it was really basic stuff like pancakes and sewing on
buttons. In the shop class, we had one project each year, which was
also pretty basic. My father could have taught me the same amount of
material in a weekend. I think it's difficult to teach this stuff
because you have kids at all different levels in the same class.

Meredith

Mirjam Bruck-Cohen wrote:

Cheryl you just strengthed my point , why do you teach ` GIRL scouts
crafts ?` [ crochet etc..?] and not SCOUT crafts ,,,, including wood
work ,,, do Boy scouts learn crochet as well ??and if not why not ????

And why do girlscouts have to learn crochet ???
[not that i am aginst teaching it , but i would like to know the
`raison d`etre`
mirjam

Interesting - the above requires much thought!

Soon, I will be teaching Girl Scouts crafts, mostly crochet, for projects,
but I am really hoping to hook at least a few of them.
Cheryl

You might find many texts like this in the book
"Anonymous Was a Woman" by Mirra Bank , St.Martin`s Press, 1979 .

At the beginning of the 21st century, I'm afraid that we're not just
changing the "mode of teaching an old subject". We've stopped teaching
many of the subjects entirely.
Dianne

We can`t have it ALL Dianne , either we teach EQUAL subjects to both
Boys and Girls , and let them decide which one the pick up later, or
we keep the girls in the Needlecrafts as a Female occupation ,,, Now
before you flame me , note my starting words TEACH equal .....in my i
opinion Both genders have to learn ALL Hand crafts , from needlework
to Carpentry . But education systems all over the world are short of
funds, thus they divide this teaching [ if they still give it at all ]
and send boys to carpentry and girls to needleworks, which immidiately
warns off mothers , that gender divisions are set up again.... [or
still held as such] .
mirjam

Cheryl you just strengthed my point , why do you teach ` GIRL scouts
crafts ?` [ crochet etc..?] and not SCOUT crafts ,,,, including wood
work ,,, do Boy scouts learn crochet as well ??and if not why not ????

And why do girlscouts have to learn crochet ???
[not that i am aginst teaching it , but i would like to know the
`raison d`etre`
mirjam

Interesting - the above requires much thought!

Soon, I will be teaching Girl Scouts crafts, mostly crochet, for projects,
but I am really hoping to hook at least a few of them.
Cheryl

On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 20:10:54 -0500, Dianne Lewandowski
wrote:

Again, I'm being "general". When this article was written, sewing was
taught in schools. That's not done much anymore, although some
districts in the U.S. still do to some degree.

The secondary chool my guys went to had a course for all Gr. 8
students called "Lifeskills". The course consisted of 3 or 4 weeks
each of sewing, cooking, keyboarding, woodworking, and I can't
remember the other course...hmmm...for both girls and boys. Anyway, I
did talk to the sewing teacher and offered my services to teach any
counted thread techique she wanted, beadwork, or demo lacemaking, but
she didn't take me up on the offer. She also mentioned they don't
even teach the higher grade levels of sewing anymore...not enough
students interested. In addition, it is very difficult for students
to fit Home Ec. courses into a timetable these days as the
post-secondary schools have a long list of required courses, plus they
have to fit in all the graduation requirements.

Yes, you can join guilds. But many live remotely and that isn't
practical or possible. We tend to forget that, since it isn't routinely
taught (whether sewing or embroidery or lace making), it can be
difficult to learn.

(shrug)....I suppose, but I don't live what I consider
remotely, and have taught myself many techiques over the years, so it
can be done. Btw, our city has a population of approx. 70,000, and
the only *real* needlework store is one operated out of a home.

snipped
I don't have any answers for this. You are right . . . many are just
too busy. But I often wonder how they found the time in 1820 to raise
many children, cook, clean, wash, mend, and hand sew all their clothing.
Those who had money could hire it out. Those who didn't, did it
themselves. And cooking, cleaning, washing, mending took 7 days a week,
12 hours a day or more. Hard, heavy work. We have so much more
"conveniences", but we still have no time . . . or so we (society)
claim. It seems the more time we have, the "less" time we have.

As another poster mentioned...times have changed. I can
remember as a child bathing once a week, now we have a shower each
morning and a bath at night...lots of towels to wash in this house
with a family of 4!

I just wonder if we're doing ourselves any favors by not knowing how to
do the simplest of tasks anymore. I also know that many simply don't
want to. But I also wonder why? The answers are probably as numerous
as there are people answering it. Some I've read here. But like
religion, I often don't "get" the answers. :-) Of course, that doesn't
matter, because what I personally feel doesn't make the world go around.

(smile)...yes, lots of reasons why I can think of a few
myself...for one thing needlework is a fairly expensive hobby. The
price of linen is out of this world! Many women just can't justify
the expense for something that is not necessarily useful. I have
canvaswork pieces that must have cost me upwards of $200 for supplies
and framing. *I* have managed to find the $$$ even when I was home
with my kids for 9 years, needlework was my passion, but for a newbie
to needlework things are pretty pricey They can't justify the
expense.

Look, I'm not being dogmatic here. I'm just asking the questions. It's
things I ponder myself, for heavens sake. I just dare to ask. I'm not
pointing fingers at any person or culture in particular. Geesh.

Dianne

Heck no, we all realize that, I just think most feel it's a
question without an answer....or with many answers

take care, Linda
Vancouver Island, bc.ca (remove 'nospam' to reply)
See samples of my work at: www.members.shaw.ca/deugau

Mirjam Bruck-Cohen wrote:
Cheryl you just strengthed my point , why do you teach ` GIRL scouts
crafts ?` [ crochet etc..?] and not SCOUT crafts ,,,, including wood
work ,,, do Boy scouts learn crochet as well ??and if not why not ????

And why do girlscouts have to learn crochet ???
[not that i am aginst teaching it , but i would like to know the
`raison d`etre`
mirjam

ACtually, my husband did learn to crochet in Boy Scouts. And I learned
to change the oil in my car in Girl Scouts.

That does happen in Scouting in the past 15 years or so, but it depends
on the Scoutleaders and what they decide they can teach, or what the
kids ask to learn.

In high school, carpentry and sewing was taught equally to both sexes,
which was required for EVERYONE to take - 12 weeks of Shop, 12 weeks of
Home Ec (I made a crappy sweatshirt and a pretty nice birdhouse). The
other 12 weeks in my school was spent learning architectural drafting,
for whatever reason.

-georg