Whitework Christening Gown, mid-19th century

Whitework Christening Gown, mid-19th century

Textiles

This detail of a 19^th century christening gown is a typical example of Ayrshire work consisting of firm satin stitches on fine cotton cloth with areas of cut-out cloth which are filled with fine, needlepoint lace stitches. It has a simple design of flowers and a trailing vine worked in a combination of solid satin stitches, curved lines of ‘laddering’, and overcast eyelets that anchor two types of needlepoint fillings. Traditional whitework items included sleeves, chemisettes, baby’s robes, bonnets and trimmings, though changing trends in nineteenth-century fashion also dictated different styles and products. For example, over 200 designs for fashionable embroidered collars were copyright-registered by the firm of Sharps & Co. of Paisley between 1843 and 1844.  Irish lace was expensive and worn by only the wealthiest women whereas whitework offered a pleasing, affordable alternative. 

The whitework industrywas introduced to Ayrshire in the 1820s, with five principal producers listed in the Ayr Post Office Directory by 1830. Its production increased steadily over the next two decades. The New Statistical Accounts of Scotland (1834-45) show that there were nineteen parishes in Ayrshire alone where women were working as muslin embroiderers or ‘flowerers’.

The intricacy and delicacy of the work shows the skill of its makers, though the notion of whitework as a congenial cottage industry fails to recognise the scale and speed of its manufacture in the mid-nineteenth century.  Outline designs were printed on cloth by Glasgow-based, ‘sewed muslin’ manufacturers who distributed them to Ayrshire embroiderers in a putting-out system of production. Each design was sent with information on how long the embroiderer had to complete it and what rate they would be paid.

Skills were passed from mother to daughter with single households often containing more than one sewer. A single hand could complete small items like collars, whereas more complex items such as christening robes could include the work of several women.  Unfinished examples suggest that outlines and edgings could be completed by less experienced sewers whereas needlepoint sections demanded the skills of highly experienced embroiderers.  Despite the beauty and versatility of Ayrshire whitework changes in fashion and mechanisation led to its decline as a large-scale, home-based craft industry in the 1880s.

University of Edinburgh

Private Collection