by William Blanchard Jerrold 1826-1884

The Iron Seamstress

William Jerrold saw the new-fangled sewing machine as an opportunity to get women into the professions — but time was of the essence.

1854

Queen Victoria 1837-1901

Introduction

By 1854, the recently invented sewing machine was turning out so much work that the demand for seamstresses was falling off. Sewing had long been a poorly paid but reliable backup for single women fallen on hard times, so journalist William Blanchard Jerrold demanded assurances that Victorian society would allow these women the same job opportunities allowed to men.

by William Blanchard Jerrold 1826-1884

abridged

IN the delicate parts of work — in those mysteries known to the erudite as flounces, gussets, frills, and tucks — in the learned complications of the herringbone system, and the homely art of darning — we imagine that the iron lady is not proficient. We believe her to be able, at the present time, to take in only the plainest needlework. She must cede the graces of the art, as yet, to her human rivals: content to stitch and sew anything put before her, at the goodly rate of five hundred stitches per minute.*

Yet, even now, the friends of human seamstresses may well begin to consider the effect this iron rival will ultimately have on human labour. Will the iron seamstress drive the seamstress of (not much) flesh and blood to more remunerative employments? The answer is not an easy one. Needlework, though poorly paid, has long been the drudgery to which women have taken when the strong arm that shielded them has fallen suddenly away.

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The modern sewing machine was invented by Elias Howe (1819-1867), an American who came to England to get financial backing for his ingenious contraption in 1848. Sewing machines can be traced back at least to Charles Fredrick Wiesenthal, a German-born British resident, in 1755, but Howe developed and patented the lockstitch that remains the most common mechanical stitch. Fellow American Isaac Singer (1811-1875) pirated Howe’s innovation for his own machines, and having grudgingly settled royalties on Howe came to dominate the market, thanks to his superior design and marketing skills.

Précis

In 1854, journalist William Blanchard Jerrold wrote a short piece for ‘Household Words’ about the recently invented sewing machine. He noted that, although human seamstresses were still required for more complex stitches, for plainer work the ‘iron seamstress’ was quite sufficient, and he asked what women who were no longer required for this work were to do instead.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

In what way were the first sewing machines superior to a seamstress?

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Seamstresses could sew many kinds of stitch. Sewing machines could sew only simple ones. They did it much faster.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IComplicated. IIQuick. IIIVariety.

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