“Darn right I’m a feminist…sew what?” The Politics of Contemporary Home Dressmaking: Sewing, Slow Fashion and Feminism

Home sewing is experiencing a revival in Western countries and alongside this has emerged a vibrant online presence of what I call digital dressmakers. Yet sewing has failed to elicit the same level of scholarly interest as other craft revivals. In light of the historically problematic relationship between domestic cultures and feminism, this paper offers the first empirical exploration of the politics of contemporary sewing, and asks; in what ways can home dressmaking be conceptualised as an intentional engagement with feminism, and how might it contribute to the goals of feminism, without explicit intentionality? The paper draws on an analysis of sewing blogs and argues that within the digital dressmaking community there is evidence that sewists use their blogs to critically consider their craft in a range of ways including its relationship to feminism, as well as undertaking practices that connect with the feminist goals of social justice and community-building.