By Kaitlyn Munro
In my recent dive into historical sewing instruction manuals,
I was emotionally struck by a passage in The Ladies’ Hand-book of Plain Needlework written by H.G. Clarke in 1842. It puts best into words every feeling that I have about sewing and the importance of conserving even the most unlikely of everyday household textiles.
“No one can look upon
the needle
without emotion:
it is a constant companion
throughout the pilgrimage of life.”
We find it in the first instrument of use placed in the hand of budding childhood, and it is found to retain its usefulness and charm even when trembling in the grasp of fast-declining age. The little girl first employs it in the dressing of her doll, then she is taught its still higher use, in making up some necessary articles for a beloved brother, or a revered parent. Approaching to womanhood, additional preparation of articles of use, as ornaments for herself and others, call for its daily employment; and with what tender emotion does the glittering steel inspire the bosom, and beneath its magic touch, that which is to deck a lover, or adorn a bride, becomes visible in the charming productions of female skill and fond regard. To the adornments of the bridal bed—the numerous preparations for an anxiously-expected little stranger and the various comports and conveniences of life, the service of this little instrument is indispensable. Often too it is found aiding in the preparation of gifts of friendship, the effects of benevolence, and the works of charity. Many of those articles, which minister so essentially to the solace of the afflicted, would be unknown without it; and its friendly aid does not desert us even in the dark hour of sorrow and affliction. By its aid we form the last covering which is to enwrap the body of a departed loved one, and prepare those sable habiliments, which custom has adopted as the external signs of mourning.”
Today I have the privilege of using this same magnificent tool to conserve many of the textiles created at the hands of our ancestral needle smiths.
Source:
The Ladies’ Hand-book of Plain Needlework
Containing clear and simple instructions, whereby to attain proficiency in every department of this most useful employment.
H.G. Clarke
1842
