Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction Part One: The development of the dressmaking trade 1. ‘About suppressing the Women Mantua-makers’ 2. ‘The art and mystery of mantua-making’ 3. ‘I bought me a gowne’ 4. ‘Undeviating Endeavours to Please’ 5. ‘At short notice … and at most Economic charges’ 6. The watershed of the 1870s 7. Winners and losers Part Two: Dressmakers in fact and fiction 8. Dressmakers in fiction 9. Dressmakers in fact 10. Ladies and their dressmakers Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Promotional Information

This book examines the dressmaking trade in Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries, focusing on the trade and the people within it.

About the Author

Pam Inder is an independent scholar and was formerly Curator of Applied Arts at first Exeter and then Leicestershire Museums (specialising in dress history), after being an Assistant Curator at Birmingham City Art Gallery. She later taught at Staffordshire and De Montfort Universities.

Reviews

[Busks, Basques and Brush–Braid] is unique in that it discusses a variety of topics; within the specific subject matter of dressmaking, that have not been previously researched and presented so thoroughly ... This book is recommended for anyone interested in dress history, eighteenth and nineteenth century society, or those wanting to expand their knowledge of issues of the period.
*The Journal of Dress History*

This is a beautifully researched and compelling text that draws the reader into the world of the 18th- and 19th-century dressmaker. Numerous though they were, the work of these seamstresses has been, until now, a hidden history. Pam Inder shines a light into the shadows of their workrooms in this important study.
*Kate Strasdin, Falmouth University, UK*

This study is a treasure of detailed research from primary sources: it ably illustrates a long-standing gig economy for women, and evidences their individual humanity, through the amazing detail of their lives and work.
*Jean L. Druesedow, Kent State University Museum, USA*

This comprehensive study ... It is undoubtedly a social history of these women and their lives. ... there is certainly something powerful about giving voice to women otherwise nameless and largely forgotten.
*Cultural and Social History: The Journal of the Social History Society*