Dressmakers,I am really sorry.

[Notinpastyet]

I am so sorry because this sounds rude & disrespectful but were dressmakers in the late 1800s early 1900s as they would say two a Penny?Was this a trade where women would need to do a type of apprenticeship for or just be really good with a needle & thread,obliviously some would be more talented then others,why I ask is in research there are quite a few ladies with their occupation  listed as dressmaker.

[greenvalley]

Hi,

I seem to remember from previous threads that dressmaker was sometimes a euphemism for a prostitute. But please remember that it's quite possible that a dressmaker was indeed a dressmaker.

Don't know whether there were a lot of them though.

Hope I haven't muddled the issue now.

Greenvalley

[DebbieG]

Hi - my gran was a dressmaker and did a formal apprenticeship in London just before WW1,  however her mother was also a dressmaker,  and I am fairly sure she did not do a formal apprenticeship,  she was widowed in 1897 and left with 3 small children,  I think it was what she did to keep the family - before her marriage she had been 'in service'  raising to ladies maid so she would have known how to sew,  but I don't think she was formally taught dressmaking.

[stanmapstone]

According to Charles Booth, in almost all cases prostitution was not seen as a permanent way of life. To some it was a temporary or occasional employment, as Booth described it for East End tailoresses or dressmakers 'who return to their trade in busy times'. Though disease and mortality would overtake the unfortunate, it was a less hazardous profession than many of its alternatives.

Stan

[stanmapstone]

"Interestingly the term 'prostitute' does not appear in the occupational dictionaries used to abstract data in the Census Office. Another euphemism for prostitute 'unfortunate' seems to have been struck out of the census returns, although one enumerator, in 1871, described every prostitute as 'fallen' in the occupational column." [Making Sense of the Census by Edward Higgs]

[Maggott]

In the early 19th cent milliner was the euphemism for prostitute.  Doubtless some dressmakers were on the game, too.
 A number of my ancestors (who so far as I know were not prostitutes) described themselves as dressmakers.  If  you remember that sewing machines were not that common during 19th century, & think of the sheer volume of contemporary clothing, it's no wonder that many women took in sewing.
I imagine that women who took an apprenticeship were the ones employed by the more expensive shops.

[Notinpastyet]

Hi folks, I am shocked & amused to think a dressmaker was also known as maybe being a prostitute.I have just read out your post to my family & they are killing them selfs with laughter that we had a load of great & great great Aunts that were prostitutes.

[Berlin-Bob]

Different times - different customs. Unfortunately, it is a fact of (victorian and edwardian) life that dressmaker did indeed have this euphimistic meaning.  These days we would probably think twice about somebody who lists her occupation as "Masseuse"

There have been several discussions about this on RootsChat - there are dressmakers and "dressmakers" which means that everybody with a dressmaker  in the family needs to satisfy themselves, which kind of dressmaker is meant.

Have a look in  the
RootsChat Reference Library => Lexicon ^{(click here)}

under Prostitutes, Seamstress and Victorian Morality

Bob

[meles]

I think you'll find that dressmakers were actually dressmakers (I hope so: most of my female ancestors were dressmakers  ) - Magott has the explanation.

But seamstresses, on the other hand, were not necessarily handy with a needle....

meles