The National CollegeInstitutions
Needlework - A Stitch in Time
Ciara McDonald
Needlework played a large part in the domestic lives of Irish women for centuries. Yet today it is practically a redundant skill, a fading memory among Ireland's older generation. However, for women of that generation, needlework was an important part of their schooling. This essay focuses on the place of needlework in the Irish primary school curriculum. It also examines the role it played in women's lives, including how women themselves perceived it.
In 1831 a state supported primary school system was established in Ireland. A range of motives, from exploitation to good intent, lay behind this increased concern in schooling matters. 'In the context of post-union politics the government felt that the schools could serve politicising and socialising goals, cultivating attitudes of political loyalty and cultural assimilation' (Coolahan, 1981, p. 4). The main aim of educational policy at this time was to promote literacy and numeracy. The basic elements of the curriculum became known as the 3 R's, that is arithmetic, reading and writing. From the beginning, the obligatory subjects taught were reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic, whilst grammar, geography, needlework (for girls) and agriculture (for boys) were taken up in the senior standards.
In 1921, with Irish independence, a new programme was introduced, based on cultural identity and centred on the promotion of the Irish language. This school programme was seen as the central agent of change in the attempt of the new Irish government to distance itself from all things British. The needlework syllabus escaped this upheaval of the curriculum unscathed. So what were the reasons behind its survival?
Despite many people's hostility towards England, its social values of morality and cultural values of class seeped into the Irish psyche to quite an extent. Since its establishment in 1831, the formal education system was essentially class related. The commonly held view was that primary school was solely for the education of the poor, who would invariably become labourers. 'Attitude to education was Victorian and based on a concept of class' (Akenson, 1975, p. 73). The planning agenda for the curriculum was intimately linked with the expected adult roles that the pupils were likely to follow. When the needlework syllabus was originally anticipated, it was designed with a girl's destined future in mind. 'A girl's future role was seen within the family context as wife and mother, with a corresponding emphasis on the accomplishments and social graces' (O'Connor, 1987, p. 36).
Needlework was also a practical subject that would aid the girls in their future domestic lives as wife and mother. 'Home sewing was an indispensable activity for most families because they lacked the resources for or access to dressmakers' (Helvenston and Bubolz, 1994, p. 306). Presented with a narrow and socially constricted set of aspirations, needlework offered one of few acceptable employment possibilities for women. Extra income was earned by going into service in one of the large houses, or by becoming a home-worker, making up garments by hand at home.
As the industrial revolution progressed, the middle classes were desperate to position themselves further away from the lower classes. This was reflected in the needlework syllabus.
'Middle class commentators were nervous about working girls breaking free from domestic influence and using their wages to taste other pleasures, as they viewed the average working girl's sense of responsibility as being little developed' (Burman, 1994, p. 45).
Obviously, social attitudes were a great motivator in the creation of the syllabus for women, but they also helped to establish the type of needlework used in the primary school system. The difference between decorative or plain stitching was as large as the gap between the lives of the upper and lower classes. Needlework fell under these two headings - decorative needlepoint and practical stitching. 'Ladies' took up decorative needlework as a pleasant pastime and as a means of enriching well-stocked wardrobes. Within the lower classes it was expected to play a much more active domestic role out of necessity. Needlework was purely an economic requirement.
'The home production of clothing by women in financially and socially precarious working families, met a wide variety of needs inside and outside the home, the maintenance of respectable appearances, making ends meet for a family, and acts of charity were often interwoven' (Burman, 1994, p. 38).
This was reflected in the teacher guidelines for the Manual for Needlework for the use of National Schools, printed in 1869. It stated: 'A practical knowledge of plain needlework is probably one of the most important acquirements for females, especially for the class attending the national schools of Ireland' (Commissioners of Education, 1869, p. 1). They saw no place for decorative stitching within the needlework syllabus.
Seventy years later, the new independent government of Ireland, although wanting to distance itself from all things British, still maintained the Victorian notion of a woman's role. The 1937 constitution, in article 41(2) clearly states a woman's position: 'In particular the state recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the state a support without which the common good cannot be achieved' (Bunreacht na hÉireann 1937, p. 136). The Catholic Church reinforced this attitude, using the community of nuns that were primary educators of girls as the promoters of these values. Their role in the church practically mirrored that of women in the home - essential but subordinate.
The structure of the syllabus itself was very disciplined. Its main aim was to constitute a sort of grammar to be applied in later years, not only as a refining influence, but also as a practical skill to aid women in their domesticated futures. But did it fulfil its objectives? Teachers' journals of the time, such as the Irish School Monthly, praised the needlework syllabus: 'It encourages habits of accuracy, neatness, cleanliness, order and economy' (Irish School Monthly, 1900, Vol. 3, p. 22). To ensure that these 'habits' were instilled in the pupil's character, meticulous methods of sewing were deemed necessary. Mrs Mary McDonald, who attended primary school in Mullaghbuoy, Co. Louth in the 1920s, commented: 'You had to do it right! She'd (the teacher) make you rip it up and do it again. It'd kill you to do it right!' (Mary McDonald, November 2000).
Teachers were under pressure to produce skilled needlewomen. Advertisers in teachers' journals played on this situation. In the Irish School Weekly, a teachers' journal, advertisements for Singer sewing machines state: 'Good needle-women mean good housewives, and the housewives of the next generation are the gauge by which your teaching will be judged' (Irish School Weekly, 1922, Vol. 2, p. 61). It was not only the students who suffered under the regimen of needlework. Patriarchal values seen in the syllabus for needlework were echoed in teacher training. Even to qualify for the entrance exam, hopeful females had to perform a preliminary needlework exam, as recounted by Sr Catherine, a former teacher. 'The needlework had to be done at the Easter prelim. The girls had to do it, but the boys didn't' (Sr Catherine, November 2000). Whatever the pupils suffered through the strictness of the needlework course, their teachers had suffered before them.
The teaching methods of needlework, through the drills, were very monotonous. Sr Catherine captures the agonies gone through by both pupils and teachers in her comments on teaching needlework. 'The programme was hard work. (Imitating pupil) "And Sister. I can't thread my needle, my thread is broken, my hands are hot and sweaty." It was hard work! And there wasn't a lot of enjoyment out of it' (Sr Catherine, November 2000). Unfortunately, these teaching exercises remained up until 1971 when the Department of Education chose to address the problems contained in needlework. A new emphasis was placed on both individual and group development:
'Skill is of secondary importance, and is most likely to be achieved by encouragement, suggestions and praise. Thus the children gain confidence in themselves and in their teacher and are more likely to intensify their efforts' (Department of Education, 1971, p. 325).
This was a complete turn around. Finally the subject was to be promoted to children in an enjoyable manner, but was it a case of too little too late?
Essentially, the needlework syllabus fulfilled its objectives as the Department had intended. It was there to serve a purpose. Every stitch practised, from the running stitch to the buttonhole, formed the basic foundation of hand sewing, whilst processes such as patching and darning were the fundamentals of care and repair. It was ensured that the stitches learnt were of such a nature that any girl in the domestic home could apply them. However, it was left to the discretion of the teacher to take an interest in further developing the course. Sr Catherine took this upon herself in her role as teacher in Scoil Mhuire na Trocaire, in Ardee, Co. Louth.
'Myself and others had gumption to know that it's not practical to be doing these little things, little bits. You know it's teaching the skill, but also putting the skill to work. So we went and we started to make the aprons that we needed for cookery, or dolls clothes' (Sr. Catherine, November 2000).
This adjustment was only brought formally into the syllabus in 1971.
'As soon as the basic stitch is mastered, it should be applied in a creative way to the making of some interesting article, preferably of the child's own choosing. Similarly, plain and purl stitches should be put to creative use as soon as the basic technique is required' (Dept. of Education, 1971, p. 325).
It becomes evident that one of the main problems of the course was that it did not move with the times. The syllabus altered very little between the years 1831 to 1971. Within these years, society saw industrialisation gradually take a hold and consequently the emergence of the sewing machine. With this, hand sewing became redundant in the home, probably because it was very time consuming. Therefore, why did the Department not properly introduce the use of the sewing machine into the syllabus? 'The schoolroom curriculum looked anachronistic as it lagged behind technological advances. Lengthy and finely handsewn seams continued to be promoted in the schoolroom long after the sewing machine made them redundant' (Burman, 1999, p. 46). The Department made no efforts to provide grants for sewing machines, and was just not prepared to make advances in the structures of the needlework syllabus. It could be suggested that because of the number of years that the course remained undeveloped, needlework remained in the curriculum not to be studied as a subject in its own right, but more as a measure of maintaining control over women. To improve and develop the subject to help women would mean to loosen the patriarchal grip on them.
The primary school system in Ireland played a vital role in the formation and transmission of the nation's ideals and values. Between the years 1922 to 1971, the central values in Irish culture were Catholicism and nationalism.These values were integrated into Irish society through the school curriculum. Both the Government and the churches, through the Department of Education, wished to keep the place of women in the home. In the primary school system, needlework was one of the tools they used.
The practical nature of needlework enshrined women in the home, yet it also aided them greatly as a survival tactic in hard times. It was an additional subject to be learned, yet it offered a welcome break from more academic subjects for some. Its discipline meant that there was no room for creativity, but this discipline ensured that it was a skill learned properly. Whatever way one may look at it, the subject made its mark in the lives of countless Irish women. Under examination, needlework demonstrates the rich spectrum of cultural, social and economic factors, which influenced its place in the education system and, more subtly, in society at large. Its downfall, unfortunately, was inevitable, as it clung on to old values in a changing world, ensuring that, with time, the importance of needlework in the curriculum and society faded and disappeared.
Bibliography
AKENSON, D.H., A Mirror to Kathleen's Face, London: McGills, Queens University Press 1975.
BUNREACHT na hÉireann / Constitution of Ireland. Dublin: Government Publications Office 1937.
BURMAN, B., (Ed.), The Culture of Sewing, Oxford: Oxford International Publishers 1999.
COMMISSIONERS of Education, Manual of Needlework for the use of in National Schools, Dublin: A Thomas 1869.
DEPARTMENT of Education, Primary School Curriculum: Teachers Handbook Part I, Dublin: Stationery Office 1971.
HELVENSTON, S.L. and Bucholz M.M, 'Home Economics and Home Sewing in The United States 1870-1940', in Burman (1999).
O'CONNOR, A.V., 'The Revolution in Girls Secondary Education in Ireland 1860-1910', in Cullen (1987).
INTERVIEWS with the author as specified in the text.
