International Journal of Costume and Fashion

The Korean Society of Costume (한국복식학회)
권호 표지

A Study of Domestic Sewing Machines in Mid-Victorian England, c. 1851-1875

  • Yen, Ya-Lei (Dept. of History, Royal Holloway, University of London)
  • Received : 2014.08.12
  • Accepted : 2014.12.15
  • Published : 2014.12.31
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Abstract

The sewing machine was the most widely-advertised item in mid-Victorian English periodicals. However, no historians have so far analyzed how English advertisers created the link between the domestic sewing machine and middle-class women, or what impact they may have had on gender relations. This paper treats sewing machines as a medium to enhance our view of gender and social history, consumer culture as well as material culture studies. Studying the advertisements of sewing machines reveals the traditional values and modern consumer culture of mid-nineteenth England, and also offers a sense for how advertisers expected people to react. Sewing machines could not only offer women aspiration and authority, but could also function as a timesaver through which a woman could attain a truly modern lifestyle. Buying a sewing machine for their wives symbolized their status as a breadwinner and a caring husband, as well as serving as an appreciation of their wives' domesticity. Sewing machines also provoked anxiety for both sexes because some believed that women would lose their morality and gender identity, whereas others believed that if relieved of domestic drudgery women would have time to educate themselves, which threatened to men and the gender hierarchy.

Keywords

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