Patchwork History: Quilts

State Historical Society of Iowa
9am-4:30pm
Today through Saturday Novemebr 21, 2009.
State Historical Building
600 East Locust Street
515-281-5111

Des Moines Botanical Center Presents...Quilting Through the Seasons and Nature Prints

October 26, 2009 - November 15, 2009, 10:00am-5:00pm Quilting Through the Seasons & Nature Prints
Stop down and enjoy the beautiful quilts on display in conjunction with the AQS Expo! 'Quilting Through the Seasons', featuring quilts and large color photographs of gardens by American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, will be on display in the North Wing Gallery and 'Nature Prints' by quilter and Botanical Center volunteer Betty Mathers will be featured in the Show House Corridor."

Quilt Walk in Valley Junction Oct 28-Oct 31st

A great way to end the week or celebrate Halloween in the Historic Valley Junction area in West Des Moines next week.

Here are some highlights of the event!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009 4–8 PM
Open houses, exhibitions, gallery openings with artists,
and demonstrations

QUILT WALK and special exhibitions run from
Wednesday, October 28 through Saturday, October 31, 10 am – 5 pm

Some exhibitors that will be featured are: The Quilt Block, Artistic Bead, 2AU, Fair World Gallery, Sisters, The Quilt Junction, and The Kavanaugh Art Gallery.

Event Flyer:
http://www.valleyjunction.com/documents/filelibrary/events/postcard2009_7F3E3F726E321.pdf

Website:
http://www.valleyjunction.com/

Interesting past exhibit at Kent State University: Technicolor Dreamcoats Central Asian Ikat Robes

Check this cool exhibition out!
http://dept.kent.edu/museum/exhibit/ikat/ikat.html

Introduction

When one thinks of cultural diversity, the state of Iowa may not quickly come to mind. Yet, Iowa has a rich history of welcoming cultural diversity from Norwegian settlers in the northeastern part of the state in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to the more recent reception of Sudanese from Africa and Tai Dam immigrants from Southeast Asia. With funding from Humanities Iowa and the Iowa State University Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities, the curators organized historians and artists from across the state to research, document, interpret, select and/or create historical and contemporary Iowa cultural traditions in fiber and fabric arts. The historians documented the fiber/fabric arts traditions of: African-American quilting; Amish quilting; Bosnian kilim rug weaving; Latin American guayaberas or wedding shirts, Native American Meskwaki regalia; Norwegian hardanger embroidery, Sudanese textiles, and Tai Dam and Laotian weaving. The historians then approached fiber/fabric artists to create new pieces, or identified existing pieces to purchase. The garments and textiles selected for this exhibit reflect these cultural textile traditions in Iowa.
The Settlers of Iowa
Iowa became a part of the Union on December 28, 1846. Known as the “Food Capital of the World,” Iowa has been the home to many immigrant and native groups. Several of the ethnic groups that came to Iowa included: African American, Amish, Bosnian, British, Czech, Danish, German, Hasidic Jews, Hmong, Irish, Meskwaki, Mexican, Norwegian, Scottish, Swedish, Welch. Settlers of Iowa had to survive and thrive, navigating a new land, often learning a new language and customs, and beginning with virtually no possessions or resources.

African American Settlers

African Americans hold a significant place in the history of America. In each of the fifty states, African Americans have been an integral part of history. Iowa became a state in 1846 and the first decennial census was conducted in 1850. The census tallied 333 African American residents. After the Civil War, oppression, danger, and Jim Crow laws sent many African Americans on a search for new opportunities and a better, safer life.

Some of the earliest African Americans to move to Iowa came to work as steamboat laborers, coal miners, packinghouse workers, and railroad workers. Steam boats located on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers provided jobs as wait staff, loaders, and deck hands. African Americans also settled in areas where Iowa’s largest industry, coal mining, provided stability and income for their families. The majority of African Americans who migrated to Iowa came from the South and they brought with them many of the traditions and cultural artifacts of their families and ancestors.

African American Quilting
The majority of African Americans who migrated to Iowa were from the Southern region of the United States, affording them traditions and cultural artifacts from their southern families and ancestors.

Quilting was often a social activity for African American women and sometimes men. After working all day long, African American women would take time out of their day to enjoy the art of quilt making. Research suggests that the creativity African American women used in their quilts stemmed from an improvisational response to the chaos in their lives. The experiences that African American women faced in the fields, on plantations, and moving to a completely new place were difficult, but they still took the time to be artists. The life experiences that African American women faced provided the context for their creativity in quilting and are responsible for the differences seen in African American quilting than in quilts from other cultures.

Quilting provided an outlet for survival by creating community and kinship among African American women. Women would sit and sew with friends, as a social activity and often to help others in need. Making quilts was a free space for African American women to be creative and make their own decisions. They were able to determine how to place the pieces in the quilts and shared life experiences with other women.

The African American women were able to showcase their skills by strategically using old scraps of clothing and turning them into works of art. Quilts were often made from old coats, dresses, or pants, and even from potato or fertilizer sacks. The quilts made by African Americans have characteristics that differ from their Caucasian counterparts. They are described as chaotic, unplanned, using long stitches, unusual color combinations, and patterns that lack organization. Descriptions of the construction include strips or strings instead of patches and squares, medium sized stitches, asymmetrical designs, bold, contrasting colors, and knots, tacks, or ties to quilt layers together. These design elements ultimately showed the unique elements of African American quilts.

Amish Settlers

The Amish settled in the area that would become Kalona, Iowa in 1846, before the town was officially formed or named. For the Amish, community is of central importance as are strong group and family relationships. Amish are traditionally known for their plain dress, their use of horse and buggy and their focus on the natural world, including alternative farming practices. To the “English,” or outside observer, the Amish seem to be a homogeneous society, but there do exist importance differences between church districts and groups. The Amish people who settled in Johnson County migrated to Iowa from established communities in Ohio, and were, in part, searching for added land for their typically large families. Families were often motivated to move because of differences in religious beliefs or church policy. The biggest challenge for many migrating Amish was finding a balance in whether a community was strict enough or too liberal. One subject that was often a source of unhappiness or disagreement was the use of color in dress and in decoration for the home.
Amish Quilting
As Amish families traveled to their new homes they brought textiles and items to use for comfort and warmth while remaining obedient to the rules of their faith. History asserts that the Amish did not bring the tradition of quilting with them from Europe. Instead, they learned the craft of quilting watching their “English” neighbors, still observing the rules of the “Ordnung,” the set of religious doctrines of the Amish. Followers are admonished to shun brightly colored clothing and designs as well as decorative objects. Quilts are made in many patterns, such as stars, diagonal stars, and wedding rings. Patterns are handed down from generation to generation and are usually made with plain materials or from pieces of old clothing.
The first step of piecing an Amish quilt together is selecting an overall quilt pattern that often follows family tradition. A major preference is a diamond or a variable star. Cutting and piecing a quilt is a home activity where generations of Amish women (grandmothers, mothers, and daughters) come together to help in the process. Sometimes the piecing is done by hand or a foot-powered treadle machine is used.
Some Amish women piece their bars or wide borders with strips of different sizes to extend the usefulness of a remnant. This economical use of material, often on the bias, creates some appealing monochromatic effects. When the quilt top has been pieced, the filling is added for warmth and sturdiness. In the past, Amish women chose a coarse, uncombed wool filling; however, today the women prefer synthetic fillings manufactured specifically for quilts because they are warmer than wool and wash and dry more easily. The tiny quilting stitches hold the filling securely so that it does not slide around or accumulate in one part of the quilt. The backing material of a quilt is frequently pieced with strips of various sizes. The backing may appear more worn out and faded than the front because it is often composed of parts of old clothing or quilts. When the top and the backing are secured, the quilt is set into a quilting frame, that allows the quilt to be turned while it is stitched. Templates are used to mark the quilt with the motifs that are going to be stitched. Amish women use pencil, chalk, or the point of a pin to trace around these patterns once the patterns are drawn, the women begin filling in the design with tiny running stitches, creating a unique design.

Bosnian Immigrants

Bosnia-Herzegovina, commonly called Bosnia, is located in southeastern Europe on the Balkan Peninsula along the coastline of the Adriatic Sea. Because of war conflicts, many Bosnians were forced to leave their country and find new homes in the United States. Classified as refugees, Bosnians started immigrating in large numbers in the mid 1990s while their country was in turmoil. Bosnian immigrants settled in the United States because of ethnic conflict, as opposed to economic reasons.

By 1997, Bosnian immigrants were the largest population of refugees in the state of Iowa as reported by Refugee Services. By 2001, more than 10,000 Bosnians were located in Iowa with the largest populations in Des Moines (6,000-7,000); Waterloo (2,000-3,000) and smaller populations in Iowa City and Davenport. Cities such as Des Moines and Waterloo boast Bosnian food stores, restaurants, and coffee shops. The Bosnian Association of Des Moines was created in 1995 by Bosnians in the area.
Bosnian Kilim & Crochet
In Bosnia, textiles are a major industry; textile traditions include crochet, knitting, and flat woven rugs called kilims. Girls learn to crochet lace and doilies from their grandmothers, mothers, and aunts. Crochet lace pieces and doilies are very time consuming and are usually given as gifts to close friends and family as opposed to being sold for profit.

Kilims are well-known, unique, and intriguing flat woven rugs from Bosnia. They are a symbol of Bosnian culture, though it is becoming a lost art. During the country’s conflict in the 1990s, few refugees were able to take the kilim rugs from their homes. Recently however, Americans traveling to Bosnia have been able to purchase these rugs for their homes.

Traditionally, in the home, kilim rugs were used to cover doors and food, as prayer rugs, and on rooftops in the summer to provide shade. They also provided an aesthetically appealing design. Kilims were given to guests, used as a dowry for a young bride, and even provided wealth to families, because they could be traded as currency. Kilim weaving was predominately a woman’s profession and a part of her daily chores.
Enthusiastic Westerners have taken to collecting the bright and colorful rugs for wall hangings, curtains, cushion covers, upholstery, wallets, shoes, suitcases, handbags, hats, belts, and covers for tennis rackets and books.

Meswaki Settlers

The history of the Meskwaki correlates with the history of other tribes from the Great Lakes region, which is evident in the similarity of cultural practices, language, systems of organization, and dress. The name Meskwaki means “People of the Red Earth.” By the early-18th century, the Meskwaki were at war with the French as a result of conflicts over policy and trade. In 1728, France adopted a policy of genocide with the intent of exterminating the entire tribe but in 1735, after a long series of skirmishes, the surviving Meskwaki sought refuge with their allies, the Sauk, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Shortly thereafter, both groups moved to Iowa. They settled west of the Mississippi river valley in present day Davenport, Iowa. In 1845, the Meskwaki were forcibly removed to a Kansas reservation to make room for white settlers. Unhappy with the conditions of life in Kansas, a group of Meskwaki came back to Iowa and with their own money purchased their first eighty acres of land in 1857. The Meskwaki still live on this land today, which has expanded to seven thousand acres through a series of land purchases.
Meswaki Ribbonwork
Ribbonwork is a textile art form and a method of applied decoration developed by Native American women of the Great Lakes region after the introduction of European trade in the early 17th century. The Meskwaki tradition of ribbonwork is a reflection of the past in how it symbolically carries on the meanings of the culture, while the actual form in material goods has changed over time.
To create ribbonwork, pairs of ribbon strips or cut fabric strips in contrasting colors are layered and then the top layer is cut, folded under, and stitched to the bottom layer into a repeating design configuration. The contrast of color forms the design and takes on a positive/negative image of an abstract representation of floral design. Two or more of these strips are sewn together to form a mirror-image of the repeating design which becomes a panel. The panels are then used to embellish garments. Several types of ribbonwork-decorated garments for men and women exist, such as shawls, breechcloths, leggings, moccasins, and bags; the primary garment for women is the ribbonwork skirt. Today, Meskwaki wear western-style dress for daily attire, but for weekly ceremonies and periodic dance festivals, they wear Meskwaki ethnic dress decorated with ribbonwork.
Scholars have indicated that it may have been possible that the appliqué method of beadwork was created by the Meskwaki. Beadwork patterns used abstract floral designs which were documented around 1865. Ribbonwork also used curvilinear motifs in abstract floral designs reminiscent of the floral beadwork designs. The use of this artistic style in appliquéd beadwork became the accepted mode of applied decoration for the Meskwaki and also resulted in the transfer of this artistic style to ribbonwork. Representative Meskwaki motifs are typically of simple designs, with curves resembling stylized flora; these characteristics set them apart from other tribes. Motif pattern sources came from reworked existing patterns or from ribbonwork samples, both of which were handed down from previous generations. Motif patterns could also be created from scratch. Any of these motif patterns can be manipulated into many configurations to create new patterns.

Mexican Immigrants

In 1910 there were only 590 Mexican Americans in Iowa, but by 1920 that number had risen to about 2,500. Some of these Spanish-speaking settlers worked in agriculture, while others found jobs in larger Iowa cities such as West Des Moines, Mason City, Davenport, and Council Bluffs. Between 1990 and 2000, many more Latino/a (people from Mexico and other Latin American countries) continued to arrive in Iowa. The number of Mexicans living in Iowa has risen sharply; by 2000, the total number had reached 82,473. Many arrive in Iowa with other relatives, friends, or people from the same villages in Mexico.
Mexican Guayabera (Wedding Shirt)
The guayabera shirt is rooted in Latin America. Guayaberas are popular because they are lightweight, cool, and comfortable. The style of guayabera is as follows: pleats down the front, four pockets in the front, a flat collar and small buttons.
This loose fitting shirt is worn untucked and has been considered a traditional garment because it is always in style. Since the guayabera fits people of all shapes and sizes and due to its ability to camouflage an expanding waistline, it can be worn by anyone; but traditionally has been considered a man’s shirt.
The original guayabera was made of linen, so traditional style guayaberas are typically made of linen or cotton. Although in recent decades they are also made of silk or polyester. Other style modifications to the original guayabera are two pockets instead of four, which is called a Mexican chazarilla, or the addition of embroidery designs. The guayabera has been adapted to modern styles of the era.
The guayabera has developed many uses since its origins. It can be utilized as casual or formal wear. The guayabera has been recognized as the “Mexican wedding shirt” because it is acceptable and common for guests, groomsmen, and even the groom to wear. Most Cuban men own at least one guayabera for formal occasions. Throughout history the guayabera has functioned as a form of identification for landowners, laborers, freedom fighters, mestizo officials, travelers, and nationalistic Cuban, Dominican, Colombian, Puerto Rican, Venezuelan, or United States Latino/as.
One of the main reasons guayaberas are popular is because they keep a person fresh and comfortable during warm seasons. For this reason retailers mainly carry guayaberas during spring and summer months. In addition, during the spring and summer months Latinos have numerous celebrations and parties such as baptisms, quinceañeras, and weddings where a guayabera is acceptable formal attire. Other occasions in Iowa where it is common to wear a guayabera include churches, socializing, and Spanish music dances and concerts in Des Moines. For boys it is common to wear guayabera to Latino festivals, church, school events, or celebrations such as weddings, where their garments match their fathers and grandfathers.

Norwegian Immigrants

Norwegians settled in many areas of the United States. However, for generations, Norwegian immigrants and their descendents have called Iowa home. Organized Norwegian immigration began in 1825 when the The Restauration left for the United States with 52 passengers. These passengers, mostly Quakers, were seeking religious freedom, however, the vast majority of Norwegians emigrated for economic reasons. Only three percent of the land in Norway is arable, and in the early nineteenth century 83 percent of the quickly growing population depended on farming, logging, and fishing.
Between 1825 and 1980, nearly one million Norwegians left for America. The peak years of Norwegian immigration were between 1866-1929. by the turn of the twentieth century, most Norwegian Americans lived in the Midwestern states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Immigrants were enticed to the Midwest by good farmland, established settlements of Norwegians, and persuasive “America letters,” written by recent immigrants to friends and relatives in Norway.

Norwegian Hardanger
For generations, Norwegian immigrants and their descendents have called Iowa home. These immigrants brought with them many traditions, including a specific embroidery technique called Hardanger, which holds cultural meaning and provides an artistic challenge to all embroiderers. Although the roots of this style of embroidery can be traced to Europe, in Iowa and other states settled by Norwegian immigrants, the embroidery transformed with color and the addition of other hand and needlework techniques. It followed international artistic tastes and became popular with Americans of many ethnic groups. Today, Hardanger appeals to many needle-workers because it is challenging, historically and culturally grounded, and can showcase an individual’s ethnic identity.

Today, many writers and needleworkers refer to the embroidery technique simply as “hardanger,” but it is more correct to call it Hardanger embroidery (in English) or hardangersøm (in Norwegian) to avoid confusion. Hardangersøm is a Norwegian counted thread embroidery with cut and drawn work. Historically this embroidery was best known in the county of Hordaland on the West coast of Norway, where it was simply called white work, hvitsøm, and was identified by its specific stitches and techniques, such as utskurdsøm (cut work) and primhol (eyelets). In later years, the technique was referred to by the name Hardanger, a name shared with the large fjord and cultural district in Hordaland County. Hardanger embroidery probably came to Norway from the east, first from ancient Persia and then from Italy. It closely resembles Italian reticella or reticello. The style continued its western migration during the mid-nineteenth and into the twentieth centuries as it came to the United States and Canada with immigration and the expansion of international business.

Sudanese Immigrants

Between the vast Sahara Desert and Costal Nubian Desert lies the Republic of Sudan, a diverse country full of dynamic cultural groups and religious beliefs. This region of Africa has had a tumultuous existence, beginning with British colonialism that lasted until 1956, civil wars, floods, and the more recent genocide in Darfur. Today, millions of citizens are displaced, not only within the country but also around the world. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have migrated into the United States. In order to maintain a connection to their Sudanese heritage and a feeling of community, many families have traveled together, clustering in new cities and states. Using dress as a medium, many Sudanese immigrants continue to express their heritage outside their country’s borders through continuation of traditional textiles and dress. The connection to traditional textiles helps keep the culture alive and vibrant, much like the colors contained in their textile work.
Sudanese Textiles
Using textile production as the common thread, researchers have followed the connections between community and dress across the regions of Sudan. From the historic processes of crafting kanga to the religious thawbs of northern Arab women, this country’s textile spectrum explodes in motifs and meanings. The diverse populations still share textiles and dress as a common link, as well as a medium through which Sudanese people can express their beliefs, practice their traditions, and communicate with the world at large. From the Kanga cloth of the Swahili group to the Islamic tobes, these colorful textiles reflect the diversity of the Sudan. As the political unrest of the nation continues to shift, the Diaspora of Sudanese people increases. Emigrants of the Sudan find themselves in far away places, yet still practice and preserve their heritage in new countries and cities, in Europe and also in the United States.

One specific textile piece that expresses the connection between cultural beliefs and dress, as well as the diversity of fabric production in northeast Africa, is the kanga cloth. From the northern sectors of the Red Sea to the southern tip of Africa, the Swahili Diaspora influenced the transmigration of this versatile textile. Primary documents show written records of the kanga at least a century ago, yet oral histories solidifies its importance much earlier.

In 1907, Ethel Younghusband wrote one of the first modern observations of the textile: “The women in East Africa simply wear two cloths or ‘kangas’; one tied under both arms, the other thrown over their necks and arms. But in Zanzibar they copy the Arab dress more closely, and often have one kanga made into a little tight dress to their knees, the other flung artistically over their shoulders.”

The modern definition of kanga, translated from Omani Arabic as “piece of cloth,” is two cloths with borders joined together as one piece. There are three key elements to each kanga cloth: the first name (or jina) which is the generic name assigned given the geometric design on the cloth, the four borders with the same design, and traditionally each cloth has a large center motif.

Tai Dam & Laotion Immigrants

Tai Dam and Laotian refugees began immigrating to the United States and Iowa in 1975. Governor Robert Ray was integral in bringing the Southeast Asian refugees to Iowa. Governor Ray, who served five terms as Iowa’s governor, used his connections to his church and the community to help refugees learn English, establish homes and jobs, and get children into schools. The Tai Dam and Laotians escaped violence and persecution in their war-filled homelands, many finding solace in Iowa and continue to thrive and add a unique cultural element to Iowa communities.

Iowa is now called the “the free capital of the Tai Dam in the world.” Currently, 95%of the Tai Dam population in the United States lives in Iowa, with 3,000-4,000 living in Des Moines. As Laotian and Tai Dam people have assimilated to Iowa, they share the traditional customs and language to their children, so that the younger generations understand and value their culture.
Tai Dam & Loatian Ikat
A common dyeing technique in Tai Dam and Laotian culture is the Ikat dye process, which is called Matmee, directly translating to 'tie the row'. Ikat is a tie dye technique that requires a weft yarn to be dyed before weaving. Then, ties are used to create a dye resistant pattern in the cloth. Fabric made from the Ikat dye process are valued in their cultures and used for significant events such as ceremonies. Ikat is practiced in the different ethnic groups and provinces in Laos.

Each group has a certain Ikat pattern that identifies their ethnic background. Traditionally Lao women wear a Sinh or silk dress in varying patterns and looks that are handmade. The Sinh is a tube skirt made of silk or cotton, usually including intricate embroidery or woven motifs, or Ikat dye.

Several Tai groups use the same Ikat dye process to decorate their skirts, changing the position of the dye to show their ethnicity. Cultural symbols which are Ikat dyed on the Sinh include sunflowers, lotus diamond pattern, and other animal figures. The motifs on the Sinh are able to communicate the region and community the wearer comes from. These dresses contain meaning for the wearer and signify the activities and formality of the events in which they are worn. Each piece and dye pattern has a significant meaning and representation to those who wear it.
Financial support for the collection also comes from the College of Human Sciences, Department of Apparel, Educational Studies, and Hospitality Management, and donors to the ISU Foundation.

The Role of Sewing in Women's Lives, 1870-1920

In 1880, William Rideing described the sewing needle as “the natural weapon of every woman who has to battle for herself in the world.” For centuries, sewing has been an integral part of women’s lives and education. Any examination of women’s roles, whether in the home or as wage-earners must include both household sewing and work in the needle trades.

Women were the primary producers and/or purchasers of their own and their family’s clothing throughout the 19th and into the early decades of the 20th century. After World War I, their role shifted to that of consumer, with increasingly fewer items of clothing created in the home. In addition, sewing – including factory, dressmaking, and repair and alteration – was a primary source of income for women. The focus of this exhibit is women and sewing, centered on clothing rather than fancy needlework such as embroidery. Three themes are examined: sewing education, sewing for home and family, and sewing as wage-work. The themes are addressed through the objects women produced, the technologies they used to produce them, and the records they left behind in the form of sample books, invoices, ledgers, photographs, and instructional materials.

By the end of the Civil War, women were no longer responsible for making men’s clothing, as most, if not all, was purchased ready made. However, throughout the nineteenth century, women relied on seamstress, dressmakers, or their own sewing skills to clothe themselves and their children. This custom production ranged from simple garments made at home, either by a family member, seamstress or dressmaker, to elaborate fashionable gowns made in an exclusive dressmaker’s shop. The manner in which women clothed the family depended on financial resources, sewing skills and individual interpretations of fashion and class. They used the resources available, and balanced budget needs with other factors, including time and desire. By the 1890s ready-made clothing had significantly entered the wardrobe decision-making process for women in the form of shirtwaists and skirts.

While ready-made clothing lessened the need for expert sewing skills, as Martha Bruere pointed out, “even the moderate use of the needle that all housekeepers need to know is no instinctive or inherited feminine function.”[1] Young girls were offered sewing classes in both public and trade schools to provide them sewing skills not learned at home.[2] Although women’s sewing skills are difficult to assess, it required more than just a mastery of basic stitches to produce an acceptable garment. Cutting and fitting were certainly a challenge for all but the most accomplished. The advent of commercial patterns and pattern drafting systems did not completely solve the problem. Even with these new systems, to achieve a properly fitted garment remained a challenge.[3]

From 1870 to 1920, advances in technology, including the ascent of the American ready-to-wear apparel industry changed sewing, especially for construction of the family wardrobe, from a necessity of home-making to an option for all but those in the poorest circumstances. Yet, the techniques and art of sewing remained integral to women’s lives, and an important creative outlet for many. As stated in 1906 by Laura Davis, supervisor of sewing in Baltimore schools, “Skill in the use of the needle is important, even essential to every women, whatever her position in society, but in the humbler walks of life it is doubly valuable, both as an aid to domestic neatness and economy, and as a means of profitable occupation.”[4]

Exhibit curated by Jean L. Parsons and Sara B. Marcketti. Thanks to collection assistants Tekara Stewart, Erica White, Ashley Ratute, and Carmen Keist and collections manager Jan Fitzpatrick for their assistance.

This exhibit was partially supported by the College of Human Sciences, Dean Helen LeBaron Hilton Grant, 2008-2009 and the Department of Apparel, Educational Studies, and Hospitality Management.

[1]Martha Bensley Bruere and Robert W. Bruere, Increasing Home Efficiency (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1914),162.

[2]See For example, “To Teach Cooking: An Outgrowth of the Work of the Sewing Schools,” The Baltimore Sun, 8 September 1899, 10.

[3] Claudia Kidwell, Cutting A Fashionable Fit: Dressmaker's Drafting Systems in the United States (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1974), and Wendy Gamber “The Female Economy: The Millinery and Dressmaking Trades, 1860-1930.” (Ph.D. diss., Brandeis University, 1990.

[4] Laura V. Davis, “Sewing in Baltimore Public Schools,” The Maryland Educational Journal 1(March 15, 1906): 23-24.

Dressmaking Technology

Dressmaking technology included everything from the basic sewing needle to the complex sewing machines of the factory. In the 19th century a steady stream of new technology for sewing and pattern cutting became available to both home and professional seamstresses and dressmakers. By the 1860s, the sewing machine was a standard and acceptable piece of industrial machinery in the household. Aided by installment buying plans, many middle-income homes were able to afford a machine – placed into an elaborate cabinet that could be properly displayed in the parlor.

Other sewing and clothing construction aids that evolved mid-19th century included commercial sewing patterns and pattern drafting systems based on proportional body measurement calculations. Many fashion magazines showed women the latest styles, but offered little assistance on how to cut an appropriate pattern. Pattern drafting systems appeared as early as the 1830s, simultaneous with the introduction of more complex and more fitted fashions. These systems were developed to provide both amateur and professional dressmakers a tool to cut a bodice to fit any size. The systems varied in ease of use and in accuracy, but certainly aided in development of the paper pattern industry.

The first full-scale paper patterns appeared as foldouts in Frank Leslie’s Gazette of Fashion, designed by Mme. Demorest. Initially, the patterns were only one size, and had to be adapted for individual measurements. It was Ebenezer Butterick who created the first paper patterns in graded sizes. The success of these patterns brought competition, beginning with James McCall and the McCall’s Pattern Company in 1870, followed quickly by numerous others. Fashion publications such as Harper’s Bazar also offered pullout pages with numerous patterns overlaid on the same sheet and coded by type of lines used. All this technology provided a woman with the tools to become her own dressmaker, if she had the time and inclination.

Home Sewing

For most of the nineteenth and into the twentieth century, clothing consumption meant custom production for American women. Factory-made men’s clothing was available for purchase starting in the mid-nineteenth century, along with a few articles of women’s apparel. However, the majority of women’s and children’s clothing needed to be sewn at home, either by the woman of the household, by servants, or by dressmakers and tailors. Homemade clothing, produced from patterns or copied from existing garments, often did not fit as well or look as high-quality as professional, dressmaker-created goods. This was due in part to the great complexity of the fashionable styles and the lack of training and skill of the maker. Further, while custom made clothes were often the most fashionable and had the best appearance, workmanship, and fit, they were often prohibitively expensive.[i]

Most women, particularly in rural areas of the United States, created garments for the entire family that were “adapted to the environment, and determined by frugality.”[ii] Garments sewn at home included simple shirts, smocks, caps, baby clothes, and household textile products, as well as the more difficult to sew fashionable dresses. The tasks of sewing, dressmaking, repairing and mending were shared by working- and middle-class women, native-born and immigrant alike. The purposes for home sewing were multi-fold, from personal necessity to acts of charity, and were defined by social and economic needs, motivations, and circumstances. In addition to providing goods for household use and for wear, sewing represented the home, women’s conventional role of caring for her family, and were variously associated with concepts of thrift, leisure, and even sexual morality.[iii]

Despite the transformational shift from clothing “made for somebody” to mass-produced ready-to-wear clothing “made for everybody,” women continued to sew.[iv] A 1926 study by the Bureau of Home Economics (then part of the Department of Agriculture) reported that at least 80 percent of women surveyed made at least some clothing for themselves and their children and three-quarters of the “business class” women spent up to six hours a week sewing and mending.[v]
Motivations for home sewing continued to be many, including necessity and individual expressions of creativity, and originality.

[i] Claudia Kidwell and Margaret Christman, Suiting Everyone: The Democratization of Clothing in America (Washington: The Smithsonian Institution Press, 1974).
[ii] Lee Hall, Common Threads: A Parade of American Clothing (Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1992), 42.
[iii] Sarah A. Gordon, “Make it Yourself: Home Sewing, Gender, and Culture, 1890-1930,” http://www.gutenberg-e.org/gordon/chap1.html; Nancy Page Fernandez, “Creating Consumers: Gender, Class, and the Family Sewing Machine,” In The Culture of Sewing: Gender, Consumption, and Home Dressmaking, ed. Barbara Burman, 157-168, (Oxford: Berg, 1999).
[iv] Kidwell and Christman, Suiting Everyone.
[v] Robert S. Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd, Middletown: A Study in Contemporary American Culture (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1929).

Sewing for Wages

When a woman decided to seek wage work, whether out of financial need or individual choice, how did she choose an occupation? There is little to indicate exactly how young women chose one job over another, but issues of social class, geography, peer associations, and education certainly played a part. They most often identified occupations that would provide more status, if possible, or that fit within definitions of their proper place in the home. While women were reported in small numbers in some traditionally male occupations, for the vast majority, the types of employment available could still be categorized into five general areas: farm work, domestic service, factory labor, the needle trades and teaching.[1] The jobs that involved traditional feminine occupations - food preparation, sewing, and domestic service - were most acceptable and available.

The needle trades employed significant numbers of women well into the twentieth century, with occupations that included dressmaker, mantuamaker, tailoress, milliner, and seamstress (both factory and non-factory). These trades could be widely divergent, and clearly differed in status and class associations. Dressmakers were considered the aristocrats of the needle trades, although that position began to change in the early 20th century, as the work environment in large shops became more like factory production.

As with other occupations, women chose dressmaking for a variety of reasons. Some chose it as a temporary method of earning an income, either when young and single or when older and forced into wage earning through loss of a husband’s or father’s income. Others chose to initiate a life long career as a dressmaker. Work environments included everything from large businesses and department stores to private homes. As a result, dressmakers engaged in work practices and processes that ranged from the most expensive and exclusive hand work to factory style, assembly-line production.
Dressmaking as a trade for women declined dramatically after 1910, as demand for custom clothing was rapidly replaced by ready-to-wear in all apparel categories.

[1]Joseph A. Hill, Women in Gainful Occupations: 1870-1920, Census Monographs IX, (Washington: GPO, 1929): 46.

Sewing Education

The mastery of sewing skills and of basic garment construction represented one component of the traditional feminine role in the home, and, at the same time, one of the few acceptable ways to earn a living. While it was often assumed that young girls learned basic sewing skills from their mothers or other female relatives, the level of skill varied widely. Formal education in sewing began in the late eighteenth century, primarily in young ladies academies. Here, young women who could afford it learned basic stitching, then moved on to decorative embroidery and needlework, the type of art stitchery that, according to Parker connoted “not only home but a socially advantaged home.”[i] Although this sewing education could be applied to either clothing or decorative art work, the primary focus was not on construction of apparel.

Other types of sewing education began to appear in both public and private schools in the mid-19th century, and in trade and vocational schools by the end of the century. The emerging garment industry, increasing industrialization, and a rapidly growing immigrant population meant there were more women who relied on mastery of the needle not only for family attire, but also for wages. Multiple factors contributed to the growth of formal sewing education. One was the perception that women not only were not learning how to “yield a needle,” many were choosing not to sew at all, the antithesis of expected feminine accomplishments.

It was charity organizations in the mid-19th century that undertook the beginnings of formal sewing instruction intended to teach “plain” sewing and clothing construction. Many of the women these programs aimed to assist were part of a growing class of urban poor with little means of self-support in a world with few employment opportunities.
The counterpoint to teaching sewing for wage-earning was teaching sewing skills to young women for use in their roles of wife and mother. The addition of sewing to public school programs was the result of support from the new home economics movement. Through domestic art and home economics programs, sewing classes were offered at all levels, from elementary or grammar school through college. Eventually, sewing through home economics classes was required in a majority of public schools across the country.

By the 1890s, both public and private schools and organizations began to offer a wider variety of sewing, dressmaking and millinery classes. However, sewing education frequently suffered from a confusion of purpose, and a dual focus in a period when educators continued to identify homemaking as the “eventual vocation” of most girls. While a concern for the unskilled young working girl stimulated the growth of trade education, the argument persisted that women should be trained for homemaking, not manufacturing. Schools therefore frequently offered courses “for homemaking and for a trade,”[ii] to train women for their “greatest industry” - homemaking.[iii]

[i] Rosika Parker, The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine (London: The Women’s Press, 1984).

[ii]Mary H. Scott. “A Girls’ Trade School Course in Dressmaking”, The Journal of Home Economics 7 (April 1915) 188.

[iii]Albert H. Leake, The Vocational Education of Girls and Women (N.Y.: The MacMillan Co., 1920), 7. See also Mary H. Scott, “A Girls’ Trade School Course in Dressmaking,” The Journal of Home Economics (April 1915): 188.

Sewing Education at Iowa State University

Iowa State was the first land grant institution to give courses in domestic economy (home
economics) for college credit (1872). These first “ladies’ courses” were taught by the Iowa State
(then) Agricultural College’s President’s wife, Mrs. Mary B. Welch. They were dedicated to
preparing women for homemaking and “discipline of the mind.” By 1875, the Department of
Domestic Economy was established and included courses in housekeeping, cooking, laundry
work, domestic chemistry, and care of the sick and of children. Sewing education, particularly
the art of cutting and fitting of dresses was accomplished on Wheeler, Wilson, and Singer sewing
machines. The revolutionary ideas of Mary Welch that science could and should be applied to
homemaking laid the foundation for home economics departments around the nation.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, courses in Domestic Economy specific to the
textiles and clothing discipline included plain sewing, dressmaking, drafting patterns, and
costume design. These courses involved making sample book of various stitches, plackets,
darning, lace, and embroidery. By 1916, courses in history of costume, handicraft, budget studies in clothing, planning the wardrobe, and designing garments were introduced.

The Department went through a number of name changes, the Domestic Art Department
in 1916-1917, the Household Art Department in 1919, and finally, the Textiles and Clothing
Department in 1924. An expanded offering of courses included clothing design, textiles, millinery, children’s clothing, and seminars and research in textiles and clothing. The objectives
of the Department became twofold; to prepare young women for the duties of the homemaker
and for the various occupations now open to scientifically trained women. Newfound occupations
for women that necessitated an education included designers, advertising, retail sales, and
education.

See: Ercel Sherman Eppright and Elizabeth Storm Ferguson, A Century of Home Economics at Iowa State University: A Proud Past, A Lively Present, a Future Promise. (Ames, IA: The Iowa State University Press, 1971).