John Hopper has posted a fascinating article on The Textile Blog about Ann Macbeth’s early 20th century efforts to use embroidery education to empower women. He says in part,
During her teaching period embroidery was still considered a potentially profitable employment route for women. Although there were a number of difficulties with the intermittence of low wages, middle men and the fickle consumer market, women could potentially earn a living if they were accomplished enough. This seems to have been one of the main reasons that Macbeth was so convinced that girls should start with embroidery at such an early age. She reasoned that even if they chose never to sew another stitch after they left school, they would have had years of experience from their school years on which to fall back if they should hit straightened times. The fact that women were often economically vulnerable was an acute awareness of Macbeth.
Read more and see more photos of Macbeth’s beautiful designs at John’s blog post.
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