Project information
Project manager
Martina Böök
Participating organisations
Linnaeus University
Financier
Stiftelsen Längmanska kulturfonden, Gundrun Sjödén Foundation, Magnus Bergvalls Stiftelse, Stiftelsen Lars Hiertas Minne, Helge Ax:son Johnssons stiftelse, Wenner-Gren stiftelserna
Timetable
2025–2028
Subject
History (Department of Cultural Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Humanities)
More about the project
During the 20th century, women met regularly around the countryside to do needlework and have coffee. The sewing circles at each other's homes were informal and hidden from others. What did the women do at the sewing circles? The project focuses on the female community during a transitional period from 1960 to 1999, when many women transitioned from being housewives to working in the workforce.
While previous research has primarily studied the different friendships of girls and women, mainly in pairs, this study focuses on female communities in groups and how they, in turn, influence their surroundings. Since the informal sewing circle is unexplored, the project will contribute new knowledge about the sewing circle itself as well as open up international research to another female arena. The project highlights overlooked aspects of women's history that have remained unknown until today. By better understanding women's actions in structural transformation, we can contribute to the ongoing work of promoting gender equality.
The goal of the project is to increase knowledge about women's communities between 1960 and 1999 by studying women's ways of acting politically, socially, and culturally within the female sphere of sewing circles. It is also central to document the textile heritage, which will be saved in a database for future researchers. Some key questions include how the sewing circle was shaped by the group, what role it played in society, and what the women created.
Many of the women who participated in the sewing circles are now over 80 years old. There are no written documents from the sewing circles, which makes it important to create knowledge about the women's community through interviews and documentation of their textiles. In this way, knowledge about the sewing circle and its function in society during the 20th century is preserved.
