"Boundless Possibilities": Home Sewing and the Meanings of Women's Domestic Work in the United States, 1890-1930

This article examines home sewing as both gendered labor and pleasurable art while addressing multiple understandings of women's domestic work. As mass-produced clothing became accessible and desirable and more women worked outside the home, fewer women sewed out of necessity. Nevertheless, sewing continued to resonate with understandings of feminine work, economic need, gender roles, cultural traditions, and artistic pleasure. Depending on the circumstances, dressmaking could be a chore or a choice, a survival skill or a means of personal expression. As social and economic circumstances shifted, home sewing moved beyond its functional role to become a way to articulate personal tastes and challenge assumptions about femininity, family, race, and class.