"What a deal of work there is in a dress!’’: Englishness and home dressmaking in the age of the sewing machine

This essay explores the home-production and consumption of clothing in relation to Englishness, from the mid. 19th century to the present day. It situates the practice of home dressmaking specifically within the construction and maintenance of social class and gender identities that were so marked within the experience of Englishness during this period. At the same time, given the advent of the domestic sewing machine and the mass-produced paper pattern, and conversely, the growth in ready-made clothing, the domestic practices of English home dressmaking became the target of competing and newly expanding international commercial interests, particularly from the USA and the essay questions the extent to which formations of identity could co-exist with these trends