Volume 1 Number 1  
Winter 2004  

Page 14  

When we think of how girls learned to sew a century ago, many of us have a picture of the young ladies sitting at their mothers’ knees, carefully stitching dresses for their dolls. While this image most certainly reflects the experience of some, many other girls learned in a more formal setting, the traditional classroom. Fortunately for those of us who love needlework, examples of their lessons and books survive to show us how they learned. And in the case of two young sisters in England, their lovely and extensive collection has been preserved together, and is available for viewing to visitors of the Bette Todd Wages Vintage Clothing Museum in Gainesville, Georgia.

Marion (left) and Ida Routledge

Marion and Ida Routledge were born in Liverpool England in the 1890s. Marion was the elder sister and attended the Liverpool Technical College of Domestic Science in 1911; Ida followed in 1915. Apparently the curriculum was considered satisfactory, because Ida’s books and projects were the same as those of Marion four years earlier - even the fabric used for working the specimens was almost identical.

Most sewing classes began with the basic stitches, and the school in Liverpool was no exception. It’s unlikely that girls in their teens were totally new to needlework, but nonetheless they learned running, hemming, seaming and other fundamental techniques which they demonstrated on samplers or specimens. Methods of constructing clothing were next, though plain work - nightgowns, shirts, petticoats, infants’ dresses, and similar items - were the focus. Then came simple embroidery stitches which were used to adorn such items as baby gowns and handkerchief cases. Marion and Ida were schoolgirls when “lingerie dresses” were the height of fashion, and they also became proficient in making the lovely garments, frothy with valenciennes lace insertion and whipped frills, both by hand and machine. And finally, their curriculum included dressmaking and some tailoring techniques, as the fashions of the day also saw women wearing tailored skirts and jackets.

The textbook for the girls’ sewing classes was Needlework for Student Teachers, by Amy K. Smith. Miss Smith’s beautifully detailed volume had been popular since its first edition in 1892, selling over 30,000 copies by 1908. Like any good publisher today, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd. did not miss an opportunity for promotion, quoting almost three dozen private and press reviews. According to The Board Teacher (surely the pun was unconscious):

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