Weaving the Story of Women’s Lives

March 2022 – Booklist

For centuries, one of the only artistic endeavors open to women were what we call domestic arts. A woman might not be allowed to train as a painter or sculptor, but she could weave tapestries, embroider altar cloths, sew clothing, or make quilts. These domestic tasks became special avenues for women to express creativity and create beauty.

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, we honor and celebrate the accomplishments of women in the domestic arts.

Dressmaking

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Celia Garth: A Story of Charleston in the Revolution by Gwen Bristow

Celia is a dressmaker in Charleston, South Carolina, when the Revolutionary War breaks out.

DB070395

Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly by Jennifer Fleischner

Dual biography of First Lady Mary Lincoln and her Washington, D.C., seamstress Elizabeth Keckly, a former slave who bought her own freedom and started a business.

Hat Making/Millinery

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Cloche and Dagger by Jenn McKinlay

When Scarlett arrives in London at the invitation of Viv, her milliner cousin, she learns that Viv is missing. No one is too concerned about the unpredictable Viv until one of her posh clients is found dead wearing the cloche hat Viv made for her. First in a series.

DB067685

Uniquely Felt: Dozens of Techniques from Fulling and Shaping to Nuno and Cobweb; Includes Forty-six Creative Projects by Christine White

Comprehensive guide to feltmaking, then using the nonwoven cloth to make items including hats.

Quilting

DB065774, BR012533, LP015373

The Quilter’s Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini

Even if you don’t quilt, you might end up wanting to attend a quilting retreat after reading these books about family members and friends who love to do and teach quilting. The audio book includes the first three books in the series.

DBC18514

Quilty as Charged: Undercover in a Material World by Spike Gillespie

In the United States today, there are more than twenty-two million quilters who collectively spend more than one billion dollars on quilting every year. The annual International Quilt Festival in Houston attracts more than 50,000 visitors from around the world. Drawn into this material world by a newspaper assignment, Spike Gillespie soon found the personalities who populate serious quilt making as compelling as the art itself.

Local connection: Each summer, the Brigham City Museum of Art and History hosts an international art quilt exhibition. It’s an amazing exhibition! Check back at this website for more information as summer gets closer.

https://www.brighamcitymuseum.org/

Knitting

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Black Sheep Knitting Mysteries. Books 1-2 (1 While My Pretty One Knits; 2 Knit, Purl, Die) by Anne Canadeo

Mysteries featuring a Plum Harbor, Massachusetts, knitting group of five members that solves crimes on the side.

DB084558, BR021486

How to Knit Socks That Fit: Techniques for Toe-up and Cuff-down Styles by Donna Druchunas

Guide to the basics of knitting socks.

Embroidery

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A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier

Violet Speedwell has become a “surplus woman,” one of a generation doomed to a life of spinsterhood after the Great War killed so many young men. Violet is drawn into a society of broderers–women who embroider kneelers for the Cathedral, carrying on a centuries-long tradition of bringing comfort to worshippers. Some sex, some violence.

DB016691

Woman’s Day Book of American Needlework by Rose Wilder Lane

Includes step-by-step instructions for beginning as well as advanced needle workers. (Book connection: Rose Wilder Lane is the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder.)

One final book that many of you have read because it is one of our favorites to recommend:

DB069184, BR018622, LP020862

Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas Middle Swan, Colorado; 1936. Elderly Hennie Comfort befriends newcomer Nit Spindle, a newly married seventeen-year-old. As Hennie teaches Nit to quilt, she also helps Nit learn how to live.

Blog Photo by Dinh Pham on Unsplash