Stitches in time | 11 October 2018

I recently read a book in which the author, describing rural life in the early 19th century, casually mentioned clothing as being ‘all made in the home’. I laughed. Anyone who has ever tried to sew anything (let alone make an entire family’s wardrobe by hand) would not be so cavalier about the amount of labour involved. But it is typical of how a female trade tends to be dismissed as something anyone (well, women) can do in their spare time, as a picturesque hobby. Nobody similarly suggests that farmers in the 1800s made all their own furniture or saddles. But just like those items, clothing was made by people who made clothing for a living. Most people bought or inherited their clothes — often second-hand — and only the rich owned more than a couple of outfits.

The history of ‘women’s work’ being devalued is very much a part of textile history, from the lace-makers of 17th-century Flanders to the Japanese silk factory workers of the 19th century. Just like sweatshop workers in the garment industry today, women worked long hours to be paid a pittance — often on products that are sold at prices they could never hope to afford. In this book, Kassia St Clair looks at the developments of textiles through human history, and explains how our ancestors’ lives were shaped by these changes. In her journey, she touches on everything from the materials that went into Neil Armstrong’s space suit to biotech firms experimenting with spider silk.

She starts from the earliest humans to use a sewing needle, and spans the different cultures of the world in their uses of fabric. In all but the warmest regions of earth, people need to wear clothing to survive, and addressing this need led to the earliest experiments with textiles (animal pelts, the other option, still need to be sewn or tied together to make any kind of garment).