Throughout history, embroidery has been a quiet yet powerful form of protest — especially behind bars. In prisons, stitching became an act of defiance, a way to reclaim identity, express resistance, and document injustice when voices were silenced. From suffragettes to political prisoners, embroidery offered a rare moment of agency within confinement. Where to Find…
One of the things I’ve always loved is seeing glimpses into artists’ studios—the places where ideas take shape, transform, and slowly become the finished pieces we admire. There’s something uniquely fascinating about witnessing a work in progress, with all its raw edges and unfinished details. It reminds me that every artwork is a journey, not…
A chatelaine was a set of chains clipped to a woman’s belt or waistband, each holding a useful object. The word comes from châtelaine, the female keeper of a castle, and the symbolism carried straight into the 19th century. To wear one was to signal responsibility, competence, and control over a household or workspace. What…
If you spend any time wandering through eBay listings of Victorian and Edwardian carte‑de‑visite photographs, you’ll notice something uncanny: rows and rows of faces, beautifully lit, carefully posed, and almost none of them smiling. It’s easy to assume the reason is purely technical. Early cameras were slow, exposures were long, and holding a smile for…
People often imagine hidden love notes, coded symbols, or rebellious messages sewn into Victorian garments. The truth is quieter, and far more revealing. Women didn’t usually embroider secret sentences into their clothing, but they did leave traces of themselves in the places no one was meant to see. Inside seams, under hems, behind waistbands, you…
Sewing has always fascinated me, my mum taught me to sew and despite probably driving my mum mad along the way, she was always patient and understanding of the challenges that came with it. I have a few hurdles that make machine sewing an adventure of its own: I’m left-handed, I have dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD…
Overcoming Challenges and Gaining Confidence Image Credit: A.C. via Unsplash Machine sewing is a rewarding activity that combines creativity and technical skill, but it can also be complex, especially when it comes to following instructions. For individuals with dyslexia, this process of understanding and remembering sewing instructions can be particularly challenging. Dyslexia affects how people…
Unwrapping them and starting the process For a while now, I’ve been working with antique glass plates, real photographic glass, coated in silver‑bromide emulsion dated sometime around the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. These century old plates have been wrapped and kept in a box, and are finally being revealed; they are mostly coated…
This article is based on a post written by the collections researcher at The Museum of English Rural Life Nicola Minney who has explored an unexpected historical ally in the suffrage movement: the sewing machine. Lately, I’ve developed a deep interest in the sewing machine, a device I’ve been using personally, and one that has…
I’ve recently acquired a late‑Victorian hand‑crank, sturdy sewing machine, with worn gold decals and a quiet, unmistakable presence. I’m sharing it here because I plan to restore it and eventually use it in my own textile‑history work, but before I can do that, I need to understand exactly what it is and where it came…