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, UK. She is the author of the companion book, Busks, Basques and Brush-braid (Bloomsbury, 2020).
Pam Inder has accomplished a monumental feat of scholarship with this comprehensive history of the seamstress. It is an invaluable resource for understanding the lives and economies devoted to what was long considered to be “women's work”. * Jean Druesedow, Kent State University, USA * Pam Inder’s forensic research shines a spotlight into the corners of the seamstress’s world and gives voice to their lives. * Kate Strasdin, Falmouth University, UK * An important contribution to the study of female achievement in the provision of simple but essential clothing and household linens. Across three centuries, using original documents and artistic and literary sources, this book offers a fresh perspective on the role of seamstresses in relation to dress history. * Valerie Cumming, Costume: The Journal of the Costume Society, UK *