The Point of the Needle: Why Sewing Matters

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Tens of millions of people sew for necessity or pleasure every day, yet the craft is surprisingly under-appreciated. The Point of the Needle redresses the balance: this is a book that argues for sewing's place in our lives. It celebrates not only sewing's recent resurgence but sewists' creativity, well-being and community. Barbara Burman chronicles new voices of people who sew today, by hand or machine, to explore what they sew, what motivates them, what they value and why they mend things, revealing insights into sewing's more intimate stories. In our age of superfast fashion with its environmental and social injustices, this eloquent book makes a passionate case for identity, diversity, resilience and memory - what people create for themselves as they stitch and make.

Author Bio

Barbara Burman is a writer and former academic at the University of Southampton and the University of the Arts, London. She is co-author of The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women's Lives, 1660-1900 (2019) and editor of The Culture of Sewing (1999). She is Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and lives near Cambridge.