Category: Textiles

Ep74: The Thing About Marianne's Washing

9/7/2023

Miss Steele has questions about Marianne's washing, and we are here to answer them. This episode we air some dirty laundry and get into the sudsy specifics of how Jane Austen and her contemporaries went about obtaining clean clothes in an era before washers and dryers.

Selected Sources

Austen, Jane. “Autograph Memorandum of Personal Accounts, [1807 Dec.],” December 1807. The Morgan Library and Museum. https://www.themorgan.org/literary-historical/81561.
Blank, Antje. “Dress.” In Jane Austen in Context, edited by Janet Todd, 234–51. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316036525.020.
Collier, Mary. “From The Woman’s Labor. An Epistle to Mr Stephen Duck.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52290/the-womans-labor-an-epistle-to-mr-stephen-duck.
Davidson, Hilary. Dress in the Age of Jane Austen: Regency Fashion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019.
Dyer, Jenny. “Georgian Washerwomen: Tales of the Tub from the Long Eighteenth Century.” Continuity and Change 36, no. 1 (May 2021): 89–110. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0268416021000072.
Styles, John. The Dress of the People: Everyday Fashion in Eighteenth-Century England. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.

Ep69: The Thing About Lizzy's Needlework with guest Dr. Jennie Batchelor

6/16/2023

Needlework in Jane Austen's novels is commonly referred to as simply "work." But what exactly does this work entail, and why is it important to characters like Elizabeth Bennet? Guest Dr. Jennie Batchelor is here to answer these questions and more. We discuss the difference between plain and fancy needlework, the significance of needlework in the pantheon of ladylike accomplishments, and the ways in which needlework functioned as a Regency woman's CV.

Thank you so much to Jennie for joining us for this episode! You can learn more about her and her work at www.jenniebatchelor.net. Jennie's digital catalogue of embroidery patterns from the Lady's Magazine can be found at ladysmagazine.omeka.net. You can find Jennie on Twitter @JennieBatchelor and on Instagram @BatchelorJennie.

Ep65: The Thing About Mrs. Allen's Muslin with guest Dr. Hilary Davidson

4/12/2023

Henry Tilney is discussing muslin with Mrs. Allen and Catherine Morland, and the ladies are impressed. This episode we're joined by fashion historian Dr. Hilary Davidson for an examination of muslin as both a textile and a fashion statement in Austen's time. There's also some busting of popular Regency fashion myths. If you have ever lost sleep worrying over your sartorial choices, this episode is for you.

Thank you so much to Hilary for joining us for this episode! You can learn more about Hilary and her work at http://www.hilarydavidson.net and follow her on Twitter and Instagram @FourRedShoes.

Ep39: The Thing About Mrs. Dashwood's Linens

5/22/2022

John and Fanny Dashwood are sadly waving goodbye to some valuable household objects, and we're here to explain why they really need to get over themselves. This episode we're looking at the linens in Sense and Sensibility, and the role of such objects in Austen's time.

Selected Sources:

Boase, Tessa. The Housekeeper’s Tale: The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House. London: Aurum Press, 2015.
Brodie, Antonia. “Marking and Memory: An Embroidered Sheet in the Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.” TEXTILE 14, no. 2: Emotional Textiles (May 3, 2016): 160–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/14759756.2016.1139381.
Buchan, William. Domestic Medicine: Or a Treatise on the Prevention and Cure of Diseases by Regimen and Simple Medicines. 14th ed. London, 1794.
Dolan, Alice. “The Fabric of Life: Time and Textiles in an Eighteenth-Century Plebeian Home.” Home Cultures 11, no. 3 (November 2014): 353–74. https://doi.org/10.2752/175174214X14035295691238.
———. “Touching Linen: Textiles, Emotion and Bodily Intimacy in England C. 1708-1818.” Cultural and Social History 16, no. 2 (March 15, 2019): 145–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780038.2019.1586810.
Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn. North and South. Edited by Angus Easson. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Postrel, Virginia. The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World. New York: Basic Books, 2020.
St Clair, Kassia. The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History. London: John Murray, 2018.
Victoria and Albert Museum. “Linen – The Original Sustainable Material,” April 2018. https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/linen-the-original-sustainable-material.

EP20: The Thing About Brandon's Flannel Waistcoat

12/15/2021

Is Brandon into grunge? Going through a lumberjack phase? Embracing Santa chic? We're here to uncover just exactly what Colonel Brandon has on under his coat. If you have ever advocated for dressing in layers, this episode is for you.

Selected episode sources

Davidson, Hilary. Dress in the Age of Jane Austen: Regency Fashion. New Haven ; London: Yale University Press, 2019.
Ray, Joan Klingel. “‘The Amiable Prejudices of a Young [Writer’s] Mind’: The Problems of Sense and Sensibility.” Persuasions On-Line 26, no. 1 (2005). https://jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol26no1/ray.htm.
Styles, John. The Dress of the People: Everyday Fashion in Eighteenth-Century England. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.
Sutherland, Eileen. “That Infamous Flannel Waistcoat.” Persuasions 19 (1995): 58.
“Waistcoat.” In OED Online. Oxford Univeristy Press. Accessed November 18, 2021. www.oed.com/view/Entry/225127.

EP07: The Thing About Spinsters

10/3/2021

While the word "spinster" never comes up in Austen's novels, the role of spinster or "old maid" is a frequent occurrence. This episode we're having a bit of etymological fun with the word spinster, in addition to digging into just why a woman might choose marrying Collins over remaining blissfully single. If you have ever been the lone singleton at the annual turkey curry buffet, this episode is for you. (Spinster does come up in the hilarious authorial demand prefacing Lesley Castle, but that's a story best saved for another episode.) Trigger warning for this episode: Brief mention of sexual assault around 13:50.

Selected episode sources:

St. Clair, Kassia. The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History. London: John Murray (Publishers), 2018.
Vickery, Amanda. The Gentleman’s Daughter: Women’s Lives in Georgian England. New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 2003.
Worsley, Lucy. Jane Austen at Home. First U.S. edition. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2017.

Episodes

Ep74: The Thing About Marianne's Washing

Ep69: The Thing About Lizzy's Needlework with guest Dr. Jennie Batchelor

Ep65: The Thing About Mrs. Allen's Muslin with guest Dr. Hilary Davidson

Ep39: The Thing About Mrs. Dashwood's Linens

EP20: The Thing About Brandon's Flannel Waistcoat

EP07: The Thing About Spinsters

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