Welsh Women Knitting

(Welsh Quilts)

Photographs of Welsh women in national dress were wildly popular in the late 19th century, partly as tourist souvenirs, and partly I think as a record of rapidly-disappearing country life.  One of the three most common occupations for the subject -- the other two being going to market and having tea -- was knitting.  I happened across one of these images this morning as I was searching for my ancestors in Breconshire, and quickly found myself utterly absorbed in the genre.

"Mrs Edwards knitting in Welsh national dress, c. 1875" (Gathering the Jewels/Casglu'r Tlysau).  Mrs. Edwards, bless her, appears to have cataracts.

(feitoamao)

It was not unusual for Welsh countrywomen to have bare forearms, so as not to get their sleeves dirty as they went about their daily work.  They would then wear separate half-sleeves for Sunday and best.

Photographed by John Thomas. (WalesOnline)  This woman, and some others I've seen, has attached the ball of yarn to her apron with a spare needle.  I can't quite tell if she has ringlets or if her goffered bonnet is dyed black for mourning.

(Victoria's Rusty Knickers [sic])  The source identifies this as a "Welsh Lady knitting a Scarf," but I think it's more likely a sock.  Curiously, I've seen a number of sources say that Welsh countrywomen knitted "socks and scarves" for sale, but all of the images I've seen are pretty obviously socks or stockings.

 

(Annie Cholewa)

 

These last three photographs also appear in a Flickr group entitled "Welsh Fashions" consisting almost entirely of late 19th-century photographs of Welsh women, a very great many of whom are knitting. Notice how many of them are wearing exactly the same betgwn, petticoat, and apron?!  Yes, apparently the clothes were provided by the photographer.  There is some debate about how widespread, even how "traditional" the so-called traditional Welsh dress really was, though most people now seem to agree that it was usually worn for Sundays and best, not everyday.

There was a resurgence of interest all over Europe, it seems, in the 19th century, in national dress, and in some places (Norway, for one) the lack of local interest in it -- because the country women would rather wear more fashionable clothing like their city cousins' -- led to varying degrees of outright invention.  That said, some of the photographs here don't look staged, and even though I know it is at least in part, I really love this one --

 

"A woman knitting in Welsh national dress, c. 1875," photographed by John Thomas (Gathering the Jewels/Casglu'r Tlysau).