''The Needle''

''a wonderful brightener and consoler; our weapon of defence against slothfulness, weariness, and sad thoughts.'' Dinah M. Craik

''Time was when the women of England were accustomed, almost from childhood, to the constant employment of their hands. It might be sometimes in elaborate works of fancy, now ridiculed for want of taste.....I cannot speak with unqualified praise of all objects on which they bestowed their attention, but if it were possible, I would write in characters of gold the indisputable fact that habits of industry and personal exertion thus acquired, gave them a strength and dignity of character, a power of usefulness and a capability of doing good which the higher theories of modern education fail to impart.'' Sarah Ellis


These quotes I have taken from the book, ''The Subversive Stitch Embroidery'' by Rozsika Parker. I have been reading this book for my dissertation and as I am reading it I am gaining a lot of insight into young girls and woman of the Victorian era and how stitching was an important part of their lifestyle. When I mean important lifestyle I don't just mean they stiched out of luxury, but they stitched with feeling either of remorse or for love of this particular art. Stitching, embroidering, lace-making were skills not appreciated as an art form and seems to be overlooked and critisized a lot of woman who were either forced into doing so as a respectful duty or for earning a living. How sad to think that stitching and embroidering can be so overlooked, undermined and ridiculed, for to me it holds such strong history and character of a person's life as well as in capturing the history of the people of the era.

Stitching is something I am extremely passionate about and I feel it should be more respected and held in high standards and should not be compared to other types of art forms eg....artist/painter.