Stitching - HIS00224H

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Module summary

Stitching has occupied the hands and minds of people throughout the past, providing a source of employment, a means of education, a leisure pursuit, and a form of protest. In our study of this everyday activity we will explore who has stitched, why, and how, allowing us to think about global histories of labour, mechanisation, identity, and worship. Because sewing is ubiquitous, it provides valuable opportunities to compare and contrast societies across the globe from the medieval to the modern. This is a timely undertaking, as recent years have seen a boom in interest in stitching. We will draw on early fashion histories, engage with literature which values the subversive potential of the stitch, and explore the cutting-edge scholarship that approaches the topic from material, literary, and embodied perspectives.

People have stitched not just clothes and furnishings but banners of protest, historical narratives, life stories, and religious experiences. From the Bayeaux tapestry to Dior couture , from religious ceremonial dress to suffragette banners, from careful hand embroidery to machine stitching, and from sailmakers, saddlers and tailors to garment workers, we will look across a wide range of case studies to scrutinise this seemingly mundane act. We all wear clothing and are surrounded by stitches, but in today’s world we are often disconnected from the production of our things. This has not always been the case, as societies in the past were often keenly aware of who was making what, and why. In comparing histories of stitching, we may also find ourselves reflecting on our own relationship with the material world.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 1 2025-26

Module aims

The aims of this module are:

• To introduce students to the practice of comparative history;
• To enable students to acquire skills and understanding of that practice by studying a particular topic or theme; and
• To enable students to reflect on the possibilities and difficulties involved in comparative history

Module learning outcomes

Students who complete this module successfully will:

• Grasp the key approaches and challenges involved in comparative history;
• Understand a range of aspects of the topic or theme which they have studied;
• Be able to use and evaluate comparative approaches to that topic or theme; and
• Have learned to discuss and write about comparative history

Module content

Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1, then a 1-hour workshop and a 2-hour seminar in each of weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of the semester. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW). Students prepare for and participate in eight 1-hour workshops and eight 2-hour seminars in all.

Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:

1. Tracing the stitch through time
2. Labour and work
3. Education
4. Leisure and pleasure
5. Politics and protest
6. The mechanical stitch
7. Repair, reuse, recycling
8. Beyond textiles?

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled)	100.0

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

For formative assessment work, students will produce an essay plan relating to the themes and issues of the module.

For summative assessment students will complete an Open Exam in the assessment period.

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled)	100.0

Module feedback

Following their formative assessment task, students will receive written feedback, which may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss their feedback during their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.

For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission. For semester 1 assessments, the tutor will be available during student hours of the following semester for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.

Indicative reading

For semester time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:

• Johanna Amos and Lisa Binkley (eds.), Stitching the Self: Identity and Needlecrafts (London: Bloomsbury, 2021)
• Andrew Gordon, Fabricating Consumers: The sewing machine in modern Japan (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2012)
• Roszika Parker, The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine (London: I.B. Tauris, 2010 [1984])