Re: [h-cost] Charity Sewing

[Elena House]

I'm still here, although taking a nice long break from sewing--I still
enjoy reading the list, though!

I've been away from my computer a lot lately (I also recently moved, from a
180 yr old house in Vermont to a 1 yr old apartment in TX; quite the
change) so the threads of the list have sort of criss-crossed for me; I'm
not sure if I've actually managed to read all of the posts related to this
topic.

My first thought was that it was historical fiction, but not necessarily
modern historical fiction, if that makes sense.  It could have been written
say in the middle of the 20th century, when this practice might possibly
have occurred to someone--or it could be a result of the earlier pulp
fiction years, and possibly written by a male (who wouldn't know this
didn't sound quite right) under a female pen name.

My second thought was that from what I'm thinking is the original post, by
Carol, I couldn't really tell what era this was supposed to be, or what
class the young woman/women were supposed to belong to.  Surely there would
be a class divide between those who are socially expected to do 'pretty'
work to show off their accomplishments, and those who would feel they were
impressing the people they wanted to impress more by showing off their
usefulness...?  A middle-upper class family's daughter in say, 1880s NYC
would certainly sew different things when a guest was there than a farming
family's daughter in Ohio in the 1940s would.

I still find the idea of cutting a hole in NEW stocking a bit of a stretch,
but if it were a plot point in an
Isn't-Our-Heroine-Just-Too-Angelic-For-Words type of 1910s young adult
pulp, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find myself reading about it; it
sounds like the kind of story meant to show off someone's virtue.

-E House


On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 6:32 PM, Marjorie Wilser  wrote:

> I vote for fiction. It seems wrong on so many levels. You don’t “cut a
> hole" in a (new!) stocking to darn. You cut a thread and let it ravel a
> little. In that day, I suspect making ANY kind of hole would never have
> happened. You wouldn’t destroy new goods for any reason, much less to make
> busy work.
>
> However, the very idea of them darning stockings in a social setting is
> suspect. It just wouldn’t be done in polite circles. Wish I could help on
> the reference.
>
> ==Marjorie Wilser
>
>  @..@   @..@   @..@
> Three Toad Press
> http://3toad.blogspot.com/
>
>
> > On Dec 18, 2015, at 2:05 PM, aqua...@patriot.net wrote:
> >
> > A young woman is visiting a household with other young women, and they
> are
> > darning some stockings. It would not be proper to give her one of the
> > family's stockings to mend, so they cut a hole in a new stocking for her
> > to darn.
> >
> > The whole idea seems silly to me, because it seems that there would be
> > some new clothing to be made or something for her to do that would not
> > require making busy work. That's why it sounds more like historical
> > fiction.
> >
> > Does it sound familiar to anyone?
> >
> > Thanks!
> > -Carol
>
>
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Re: [h-cost] Charity Sewing

[Marjorie Wilser]

I vote for fiction. It seems wrong on so many levels. You don’t “cut a hole" in 
a (new!) stocking to darn. You cut a thread and let it ravel a little. In that 
day, I suspect making ANY kind of hole would never have happened. You wouldn’t 
destroy new goods for any reason, much less to make busy work.

However, the very idea of them darning stockings in a social setting is 
suspect. It just wouldn’t be done in polite circles. Wish I could help on the 
reference.

==Marjorie Wilser

 @..@   @..@   @..@
Three Toad Press
http://3toad.blogspot.com/


> On Dec 18, 2015, at 2:05 PM, aqua...@patriot.net wrote:
> 
> A young woman is visiting a household with other young women, and they are
> darning some stockings. It would not be proper to give her one of the
> family's stockings to mend, so they cut a hole in a new stocking for her
> to darn.
> 
> The whole idea seems silly to me, because it seems that there would be
> some new clothing to be made or something for her to do that would not
> require making busy work. That's why it sounds more like historical
> fiction.
> 
> Does it sound familiar to anyone?
> 
> Thanks!
> -Carol


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Re: [h-cost] Charity Sewing

[aquazoo]

There is a reference I've been trying to track down. This is one of those
"I heard it somewhere" stories. I asked a couple of groups on facebook
with no results, but maybe it will be familiar to someone here. It was
possibly from a novel, but I don't know if it's from the era or 20thC
historical fiction.

A young woman is visiting a household with other young women, and they are
darning some stockings. It would not be proper to give her one of the
family's stockings to mend, so they cut a hole in a new stocking for her
to darn.

The whole idea seems silly to me, because it seems that there would be
some new clothing to be made or something for her to do that would not
require making busy work. That's why it sounds more like historical
fiction.

Does it sound familiar to anyone?

Thanks!
-Carol



> I actually wonder about how charity sewing would fit in to the fancy
> vs plain sewing rule in Mansfield Park there is one evening (I think
> they have company over but I can't remember) when Mrs Norris complains
> that Fanny should be sewing and if she has nothing of her own to work
> on there is plenty of work in the 'poor box'. Implying that making
> things for the poor (almost certainly underclothes, the workwoman's
> guide is only slightly later than this novel and it has a lot to say
> about making underclothes and baby clothes as charity) was a normal
> and expected occupation for young ladies. If it was somehow clear that
> what you were making was for the poor of the parish instead of your
> own family working on that in public would show off your charitable
> virtues (not a bad thing for a gentleman to look for in a wife as
> anything that makes your tenants happier is likely to make your estate
> more stable and profitable).
> Elizabeth


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