History Main / TextileWorkIsFeminine

* 'Spinsters' were almost always women, and the modern use of the word to mean 'woman who has never been married' (with the implication she's a ChristmasCake) ''does'' derive from the fact that they were usually women who'd failed to marry and had to support themselves (and as single women had little legal status, they didn't have many options. It's also never seen as a surname as women couldn't pass on their names and spinsters would generally be childless anyway). The actual assembly of clothes, right up until the sewing machine in the late 19th century, usually depended on the gender the clothes were intended for- tailoring was a respected profession, but ladies wouldn't like to think a man had handled their 'smallclothes'! (and women of all walks of life made simple garments, like shirts, at home.) Furthermore, "Webster" -- also a common name -- means a specifically female weaver.

* In ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}'', a girl named Mako "Nakama" Nakarai has quite the skill with her sewing machine. She even has a very specific goal in regards to her tailoring/sewing skills: [[spoiler:making uniforms for the other pilots before it's her time to pilot Zearth and die as a consequence. She manages to only make some of them, but the remaining girls take up this little "task".]]

* ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'' Shuna shows off her femininity by showing her skill in weaving silk on a loom. Shuna is made responsible for clothing everyone in their fledgling village and had already woven several rolls of silk.

* Subverted in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers''. Among the girls, we see Ukraine with sewing implements... and it's only because her shirt's buttons popped out due to her GagBoobs and she needs to fix it. The one seen actively embroidering is England, a ''man''. (See the "Real Life" section for possible reasons). Additionally, Ukraine's younger brother Russia is seen knitting.

* ''Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie'' reveals that Naruto's late mother [[TomboyWithAGirlyStreak Kushina]] and [[spoiler:future wife]] Hinata both enjoy knitting scarves.

* In ''Manga/TheRowsOfCherryTrees'', Yukiko Nakayama's mother's hobby is doing embroidery. It also comes off as a handy way to make quick cash, since she's skilled enough to make landscape pictures and sell them.
* In ''Anime/YourName'', Mitsuha's grandmother Hitoha is a master of ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumihimo kumihimo]]'', the Japanese art of braid making, and she passes on this skill to her granddaughters. Also, Mitsuha (while in Taki's body) uses her sewing skills to mend Miki's skirt, and Miki is impressed, saying she didn't realize that Taki had a feminine side.
* ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'' Shuna shows off her femininity by showing her skill in weaving silk on a loom. Shuna is made responsible for clothing everyone in their fledgling village and had already woven several rolls of silk.
* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', both Sakura and Tomoyo fulfill this in different ways:
** To give thanks for comforting her after being turned down by Yukito, she spends a week making Syaoran a scarf. Similarly, in the manga, Sakura returns the favor by spending a week making him a yukata.
** Tomoyo regularly makes and designs costumes for Sakura to fight in. She custom makes the costumes so they would fit the situation and protect Sakura from whatever the cards throw her.
* ''Manga/DrStone'': Yuzuriha was a member of the handicrafts club prior to petrification, and once she's revived she's able to create clothing in ''seconds''. Once they rediscover hemp fibers and weaving, she single-handedly reinvents fashion.

* In ''Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}'' and many of its variants, the girl's father brags about her incredible spinning ability and so sets off the story.
* ''Literature/WhuppityStoorie'' revolves around a "green gentlewoman" saving a woman's pig and demanding her child. Spinning has a part in the tale because the gentlewoman is spinning when she sings of her name.
* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rumpelstiltskin/stories/3spinners.html The Three Spinners]]'' and most of its variants, the girl's mother claims she spins too much rather than admit that she does not want to spin at all.
* In "Literature/TheThreeAunts", the other servants claim instead that she claimed marvelous abilities to spin, weave, and sew. The heroine doesn't dare say that she can't.
* In "Literature/TheLazySpinner", the woman tricks her husband to get out of the work.
* In ''[[http://grimm.pangyre.org/tale/156-odds-and-ends.html Odds And Ends]]'', a woman who tears out knots in flax and chucks them loses her fiancee to her servant who industriously gathers them up and makes a gown of them.
* In ''[[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1451.html#key The Storehouse Key in the Distaff,]]'' the woman brags of how much her daughter spins, and the wooer puts it to the test by hiding a key in the flax she is supposed to be spinning. When he returns, they talk of how they lost the key, and he finds it in the flax and does not speak of marrying her.

* In ''Literature/VasilissaTheBeautiful'', the WickedStepmother assigned her daughter and stepdaughter textile work. (At the end of the tale, she supports herself with her work before the tsar sees her.)
-->''One autumn evening the merchant's wife called the three girls to her and gave them each a task. One of her daughters she bade make a piece of lace, the other to knit a pair of hose, and to Vasilissa she gave a basket of flax to be spun. She bade each finish a certain amount.''
* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/diamondstoads/stories/caskets.html The Two Caskets,]]'' the WickedStepmother sets both her daughter and stepdaughter a contest in spinning -- having given her daughter good flax and her stepdaughter rotten stuff.
* In Creator/JosephJacobs' ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/stories/norroway.html The Black Bull of Norroway,]]'' the heroine washes bloodstains out of the hero's shirt, which is the test for the bride.
* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/188spindleshuttleneedle.html The Spindle, the Shuttle, and the Needle,]]'' the heroine is left these items to make her living by.
* In ''Literature/SnowWhite'', the queen is sewing when she pricks her finger. She then sees a droplet of blood on her fingerpad and makes the original wish for a child who [[RavenHairIvorySkin is red as blood, white as snow, and black as ebony]].
* In ''Literature/TheSixSwans'' and "[[http://visitandersen.com/fairy-tales/hans-christian-andersen-the-wild-swans The Wild Swans]]", the WickedStepmother sews six magical shirts to transform her stepsons into swans. Her stepdaughter sets out to save the swan princes by sewing six shirts from starflowers ''and'' becoming an ElectiveMute. [[spoiler: She either finishes right before being executed [[FrameUp for crimes that she never commited]] or is still sewing when she's about to be [[BurnTheWitch burned at the stake]]; in any way, her brothers rescue her and put on the shirts to recover their human forms and prove her innocence.]]
* In Creator/AsbjornsenAndMoe's "[[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8933/8933-h/8933-h.htm#chap08 The Twelve Wild Ducks]]", Snowy-White-and-Rosy-Red has to do the same for her twelve older brothers. [[spoiler: She's also framed for crimes and near executed, and her brothers ''also'' take the shirts and de-enchant themselves to save her.]]

* In ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'', Cindy has to do the work to ready her stepsisters' clothes for the ball.
-->''This was a new difficulty for Cinderella; for it was she who ironed her sister's linen and pleated their ruffles.''
* In Creator/AndrewLang's ''The Violet Fairy Book'', in [[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/055.htm "The Frog,"]] the old woman tells her sons to test their brides with flax.
-->''Do as you like, but see that you choose good housewives, who will look carefully after your affairs; and, to make certain of this, take with you these three skeins of flax, and give it to them to spin. Whoever spins the best will be my favourite daughter-in-law.'''
* In ''Literature/TheFeatherOfFinistTheFalcon'', the daughter wins the attention of the bride by washing the blood from Finist's shirt with her tears.
* In ''Literature/SoriaMoriaCastle'', when he finds the princesses, they are spinning.
* In ''Literature/TsarevichPetrAndTheWizard'', the three princesses are spinning copper, silver, and gold when he finds them.

* PlayedWith in ''Literature/KingThrushbeard.'' After a haughty princess drives her noble suitors off with unnecessary mocking, her enraged father tells her that she'll marry the first man who visits the palace. It turns out to be a beggar, and the beggar himself is very reluctant to marry her because [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome he knows she's never worked before.]] Sure enough, she can't weave cloth or spin thread because it makes her hands bleed, so [[ProperlyParanoid her new husband complains at how useless she is.]]

* The ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' follow-up to "Journey to Babel", [[http://www.trektales.com/cantordaywork.html All In A Day's Work]] by the late Johanna Cantor, has Spock's mother handling things for the families of the ambassadors on board. We find that Tellarite women are never named but are called somebody's daughter, somebody's wife, etc., but this doesn't prevent them from having a sense of importance, pride, and ego when it comes to their textile work.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'': Sally is the town seamstress, and female elves are seen sewing teddy bears.

* ''The Perils of Pauline (1947)'': In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdvQ-765TMo "The Sewing Machine Song"]], the character laments having to spend long hours working in a textile factory when she'd rather be doing something else.

* ''[[Literature/EarthsChildren Clan of the Cave Bear]]'': Making clothes - not textiles, but out of animal skins - cleaning, etc. is women's work. In the Clan, males and females have different GeneticMemory such that women can't hunt and men can't cook/make clothes/etc.

* Creator/{{Socrates}}:
** In Creator/{{Plato}}'s account, he, arguing that you have to trust experts, points out that a woman's authority is greater than a man's in textile work.
** In Xenophon's, he depicts Socrates explaining to a man that he could get his female relatives in his household to do textile work, and support them on proceeds. He also has him point out that where spinning wool is in question, the women are the authorities and so are treated as such.

* ''[[Literature/{{Tinker}} Wolf Who Rules]]'': Tinker thinks about how wives do the laundry and even have discussions about how to get grass stains out.



* In Creator/SandyMitchell's Literature/CiaphasCain novel ''For The Emperor'', one of the insults the former 301st (all male) throws at the former 296th (all female) is that they were doing needlework as rear echelon soldiers.
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Literature/ProsperosDaughter Prospero Lost]]'', in the BackStory, Eramus had once insulted Miranda by saying her lack of womanly talents showed a deficiency of character, and Theo thrashed him for it. Miranda learned the skill and embroidered a unicorn for Theo. In the current day of the story, he still has it.
* In Creator/PatriciaCWrede's ''Literature/ThirteenthChild'', the Rothmer women are in charge of laundry and mending clothes.
* In Creator/RickRiordan's ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' novel ''The Mark of Athena'', Annabeth is put to the test, weaving.
* Inverted in Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheLongWalk'': Ray Garraty teaches his girlfriend how to knit. Also, the mill workers in "Graveyard Shift" work in a textile mill (an example of WriteWhatYouKnow, as King himself worked in a textile mill in high school).
* Creator/PatriciaAMcKillip:
** In "Oak Hill" Elaine is the sewer. Even Maris borrows a needle from her to do some.
** In ''Solstice Wood'', the Fiber Guild is all female. Iris explains it's a sewing circle, really. [[spoiler:They actually work textile magic to contain the Fair Folk.]]
* In Creator/LewisCarroll's ''[[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Through The Looking Glass]]'', the Sheep in the shop is knitting.
* In Creator/AletheaKontis's ''Literature/{{Enchanted}}'', "loving and giving" Friday is always sewing clothes for the poor.
* In John Bunyan's ''Literature/PilgrimsProgress'', Mr. Brisk woos Mercy because she is always sewing until he learns she is sewing not for profit but for the poor.
* In ''Literature/DaddyLongLegs'' sequel ''My Dear Enemy'', Sallie expects this trope. She is surprised to learn that Dr. Robin [=McRae=] is rather skilled at knitting. He explains that he learned to do it as a teenager in his native Scotland.
* In ''Literature/TheHouseOfTheSpirits'', Clara's older sister [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Rosa]] spends almost all of her time sewing a ''massive'' and very complicated tapestry, which worries her mother Nivea as she fears it's all that [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} she]] will ever be able to do well. [[spoiler:The tapestry is left unfinished when she's fatally poisoned in an attempt on her father Severo's life.]]

* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/IceCrown'', when the inn maid gives Roane clothes, she mentions they are not a lady's, being her own seaming.
* In Elizabeth Marie Pope's ''Literature/ThePerilousGard'', Alicia was always better at sewing than Kate, as well as at general femininity.
* In Creator/JohnHemry's ''[[Literature/PaulSinclair Burden Of Proof,]]'' Carl talks of how Paul and Jen have settled down since they started to date; he expects Jen to knit and [[FeminineWomenCanCook cook]] and stuff.
* Jessica Day George's ''Princess of the Midnight Ball'' plays this: hero Galen is an active knitter, much to the surprise of the women. One comments that they had knitted, and knitted, and knitted for the soldiers, and Galen has to tell her that none of it ever reached him. [[spoiler:he actually uses his skills to make the charms that defeat the King Under Stone]]. He notes that it's a useful skill for a soldier: it helps pass the time and the ability to make a nice warm pair of socks comes in handy.
* In Creator/SusannaClarke's ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'', when the society had to be disbanded, many of the theoretical magicians became nuisances, having nothing to do -- and bothered their female relations at their needlework.
* Creator/JaneAusten:
** In ''Literature/MansfieldPark'', Fanny and Lady Bertram often do some needlework. Lady Bertram's work is not very useful, nor is it pretty. The ladies also often sew for their neighbourhood charity.
** ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'':
*** Mr. Bingley casually mentions that all ladies are accomplished, meaning that they all do needlework like knitting bags and similar things.
*** Elizabeth is sewing when Mr. Darcy asked her father for his permission for them to marry. He needed to speak with her and pretended to be admiring her work.
** ''Literature/{{Emma}}'':
*** Emma isn't in handiwork a lot, but she says she may make carpetwork when she's older.
*** EnglishRose Jane Fairfax sews very well, among her other numerous accomplishments. She's said to be making stuff for her aunt and grandma.
** In ''Literature/NorthangerAbbey'', one particular friend of Miss Thorpe's, a Miss Andrews, is netting herself the sweetest cloak Catherine could conceive.
* ''Literature/JaneEyre'':
** When Bessie visits adult Jane, she asks about her schooling, and her last question is whether she can work on muslin and canvas. Jane can, and Bessie pronounces her to be quite a lady.
** At Lowood school, pupils had to sew and repair their uniforms themselves. Jane later mentions they had bad needles and thread.
** Mrs. Fairfax, a housekeeper at Thorfield, often knits.
* Creator/MaryRenault tells this anecdote about UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat in ''Literature/ThePersianBoy'': When the Greek army invaded Persia and captured most of the royal family, Alexander brought the royal ladies some yarn for weaving. Only slaves did this in Persia, and when he was informed, he apologized and said his mother and sisters did this all the time and he had wanted to give his hostages something to do. The Queen Mother became his friend after this. This is based on real events, like much of Renault's work; it's in Quintus Curtius. Though how seriously to take anything Curtius said about Alexander is a matter of some debate among historians.

* In Creator/ConnieWillis's ''Literature/DoomsdayBook'', Dr. Dunworthy, trying to scare Kivrin off the Middle Ages, pointed out that she would have to learn to spin -- with a spindle, not a spinning wheel, which hadn't been invented yet.
* ''Literature/ABouquet of Czech Folktales'':
** The heroine of "The Golden Spinning Wheel" is a hard-working girl who likes spinning. Her step-sister takes her place as a bride of a nobleman. She longs to have the golden spinning wheel from the title, which reveals what she did to her sister. Her husband finds out what she did.
** The heroine of "Wedding Shirts" is waiting for her lover who went abroad. He told her to spin, weave, and sew their wedding shirts and her bottom drawer until he comes back.
* ''Literature/TenSixtySixAndAllThat'' credits Richard Arkwright with the invention of the "Spinning Jenny, or unmarried textile working girl," who was made obsolete by the later discovery of mules.
* Creel, the heroine of ''Literature/DragonskinSlippers'' is a talented embroideress, who spearheads a fashion trend for stain-glass patterned gowns.
* Played with in ''Literature/DragonBones'': Ward finds new clothes in his room, and notes that his {{Cloudcuckoolander}} mother is the only person in the castle who would have the necessary skills to do that kind of embroidery. However, it turns out it was actually Oreg, their house ghost/servant/slave who did it. With magic. But he ''also'' likes to do it by hand, as he has a lot of time to pass.
* Averted in ''Literature/TheHungerGames''. Peeta's stylist, who makes all his clothes, is female but Katniss' stylist is male and plays a much larger role. Outside of the Capitol, all textile work is done in District 8 by men and women alike.
* In Creator/HobbyWebb's ''Literature/RoseAndTheMagiciansMask'', Miss Fell uses knitting in magic at one point [[spoiler:to save Mr. Fountain's life. Later, she examines Rose and critically observes that as a man, Mr. Fountain is not teaching her what a proper young lady and magician should know; she should know how to embroider, both for propriety and because she will find it useful.]]
* The Tyrolean and German girls in the ''Literature/ChaletSchool'' books are big on sewing, periods are set aside for mending clothes, and being able to sew and mend is considered an important ability for a potential wife and homemaker. More tomboyish or rebellious girls, such as Cornelia and Joey, hate sewing, and Joey's efforts drive Gisela to distraction in the early books. Several girls in the Hobbies Club do various crafts as their hobbies.
* In Tolkien's works, all the mentioned textile workers are women. Vairë (the title of one of the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Valier]]) means "weaver"; and Luthien, Galadriel, and Arwen are all accomplished weavers. As with other elven crafts, there is a magical element to their work (Luthien's cloak is the most explicitly magical, as she is by far the most powerful). Much more significantly, Fëanor's mother Miriel is said to be highly skilled in sewing, embroidery and "other skills requiring finesse": even by the standards of the highly artistic Noldor. She ends up working for the aforementioned Vairë weaving the stories of the House of Finwë. Which is what the Legendarium basically is (the only one of the stories that has nothing to do with a member of Finwë's extended family is ''Literature/TheHobbit''). In one story, Tolkien tells of a 9th Century Anglo-Saxon lord who becomes stranded on Tol Eressëa and [[FramingDevice writes down the stories that Tolkien claims to have "translated" ]]based off of Miriel's tapestries and the recollections of the elves living on that island. So the "real version" of Tolkien's Legendarium, is actually the work of Miriel: but we have to be content with the written version since we can't go to Valinor.
* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'', embroidering tapestries is one of the skills Eilonwy is expected to learn as a lady. Like with most of her lessons, she's not too fond of it. She does make a banner for Taran, but her comments on how well it went when she tried to put a picture of Taran in would suggest that she's not exactly great at it.
* In ''Literature/TheRedTent'', Jacob's wives are all seen working on textiles in some capacity. Zilpah and Bilhah are said to be especially good at it. Bilhah tells Dinah a JustSoStory about how women learned spinning and weaving from a goddess named Enhenduanna, and Bilhah's "personal goddess" is Uttu, also associated with weaving. [[spoiler:After Bilhah receives a beating for her affair with Reuben, a major tip-off that something in her has changed is that the thread she spins gradually becomes thinner and thinner before she runs away.]]
* In a Mohist text calling for everyone to rise early and go to bed late to get their work done, the women are to spend their time on textile work -- spinning, weaving, and preparing cloth.
* In the Literature/FiveChildrenAndIt sequel ''Phoenix and the Carpet'', TeamMom Althea uses her sewing skills to repair the titular carpet.
* In the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' novel ''Take a Thief'', Skif is mocked by the other boy Trainees for being in the laundry/mending chore section at the Collegium - he'd learned to do it as a thief, as dirty and/or damaged clothing is easier to take without being noticed, and cleaning and mending it before taking it to the fence improves the resale value substantially for zero risk - until he points out that this means he's the only boy in a room full of girls, at which point he is suspected of secret genius.
* In Barbara Vine's ''Asta's Book'', Asta is a self-willed, strong-minded young Danish woman, but in some ways, she's very conventional and she takes pride in the fact that she sews and embroiders beautifully. She's an expert on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawn_thread_work drawn thread work]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tent_stitch petit point]]. Toward the end of her very long life, she's taken on the project of embroidering her daughter's monogram on every piece of linen she owns.
* Demonstrated in both Ann Clark's 1943 ''Little Navajo Bluebird'' and Margaret Phelps' 1944 ''Chia and the Lambs'', both about Navajo girls learning traditional female occupations including sheep herding, preparing wool, and weaving. Both are pretty much TruthInTelevision although ''Bluebird'' has more realism while ''Chia'' tends to be FairForItsDay and strays into TontoTalk.
* ''[[Literature/CleopatrasMoon Cleopatra's Moon]]'': In keeping with {{Ancient Rom|e}}an values, all the women in Octavianus' household are expected to spin wool, weave fabric, and sew; and Octavianus claims (falsely) only to wear clothes made by them as part of his JustTheFirstCitizen act. The Egyptian princess forcibly adopted into the house is appalled by the StayInTheKitchen attitude and avoids learning to spin as a small act of rebellion.
* ''LightNovel/InvadersOfTheRokujyouma'': The school's Knitting Club [[ClubStub consists solely of]] the DelicateAndSickly Harumi and male protagonist Koutarou, the latter of whom laments that people probably think he just joined to find a girlfriend. When Harumi's graduation approaches, Koutarou asks one of his female friends to join the club as a figurehead president, believing that first-year girls wouldn't want to join a Knitting Club run by a guy (especially not one with [[FaceOfAThug a face as scary as his]]).

* Subverted in ''Music/FlightOfTheConchords'', in which the Conchords brainstorm "things that women like." Jemaine suggests weaving, but Bret responds that weaving is a man's game, noting that he, his father, and his grandfather all weave. (Slightly off-topic: Later, Bret suggests women's rights, and Jemaine says that ''that'' is a man's thing, noting that his father is a women's rights activist [[HypocriticalHumor who would never allow his wife to become engaged in such activism]].)

* Rosey Grier, an actor and American football player, would poke fun at himself on television appearances in TheSeventies, as his reveal of his favorite hobby being needlepoint was in stark contrast to his macho/tough persona.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Mudd's Women", sewing is one skill that ought to be considered above looks.
-->'''Eve''': ''Is this the kind of wife you want, Ben? Not someone to help you, not a wife to [[FeminineWomenCanCook cook]] and sew and cry and need, but this kind. Selfish, vain, useless. Is this what you really want?''
* In an early episode of ''Series/HomeImprovement'', Brad joins a sewing class purely in order to meet girls. Unfortunately, this backfires on him; his classmates find out what he's doing and join the class too, meaning it winds up being a class full of guys and he's still stuck sewing.
-->'''Tim:''' Brad, I'd love to help you, but I've got a drawer full of socks that need darning!
** Later on, the idea winds up being subverted when Brad is seen working on his project at home while dealing with Randy and Mark teasing him. Al, who is watching the boys as Tim and Jill are out, tells them that he actually had to learn how to sew when he was in the Navy as it is considered an important skill for servicemen.
* In ''Series/GilmoreGirls'', Lorelai is very skilled at sewing. She makes impressive costumes for various town festivals and she frequently changes her or Rory's dress.

* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}} (mentioned above) teaches Cora how to spin thread into gold.
* In ''[[Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide,]]'' one of the bullies is ashamed to tell anyone that he's in the sewing club and very good at it, though eventually gets tired of hiding his secret. [[EverybodyKnewAlready Not that anyone cared.]]
* in ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'', embroidery is one of [[TomboyWithAGirlyStreak Xena]]'s many skills.
* ''Series/TheGreatBritishSewingBee'' manages to avert the trope by having a few male contestants (and at least one male judge) in the series, however it's played straight in that there's still always a much greater ratio of women to men.
* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. Subverted in an episode involving a planet where both sexes were at war; the leader of the male faction is showing sewing in his hut, instead of his (abducted) wife doing this chore.

* In ''Series/CoronationStreet'' one of the biggest employers in the area is Underworld a lingerie factory and all of its machinists are women except for Sean Tully who is a stereotypical CampGay. There are male workers beside him but they are the co-owner and the stockroomist / delivery driver.
* In ''Series/{{Oshin}}'', one of the businesses that the protagonist Shin "Oshin" Tanemura takes up is a textile and clothes-making one handled by her and her husband Ryuuzo. Among other things, she's seen using a Western sewing machine and teaching the local [[RareMaleExample male]] OldRetainer how to sew manually so he can help her out.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}''. Kanji Tatsumi enjoys doing textile work and is very talented in doing it, since [[ItRunsInTheFamily his mother is the owner of the local textile shop.]] However, because of this trope, he has trouble when dealing with girls, as well as lacking confidence in his manliness. Obviously, his social link then revolves around this and him dealing with all of this.
* In one of the credits illustrations of ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters '98'', [[http://i42.tinypic.com/2lt7ko.png Kyo's girlfriend Yuki is seen sewing his school jacket]].
* A scene from [[GenkiGirl Kaho Nagira]]'s path in ''VisualNovel/CrescendoJP'' has her [[http://i42.tinypic.com/j6rkia.jpg sewing a shirt.]]
* ''Very'' justified in the case of [[spoiler:Mira Kagami]] in ''VisualNovel/TokimekiMemorial'': [[spoiler:She is from a poor household, so she learned to sew as a way to help her mother take care of her siblings. If the PlayerCharacter lets Mira borrow his coat under some special circumstances [[note]](he must walk her home from the New Years Ball, she must be in the "blushing" stage aka have feelings for him, ''and'' he has to offer her his jacket since she has no coat)[[/note]], she will repair it before returning it.]]

* Gemma from ''VideoGame/NinjaPizzaGirl'' makes her own clothes out of scavenged materials. This becomes a plot point in one chapter, and in-game you can dress Gemma up in different outfits that [[AndYourRewardIsClothes you "buy" with recycled items that you pick up on your runs.]]

* Averted in ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'' at least among the Nora where Stitchers (who make clothes and armor for the tribe) can be both male and female. Aloy's friend Teb is a male Stitcher.
* ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngel'': Starting from Moonlit Lovers, Vanilla learns to knit from Dr. Kera in order to be better girlfriend material for Tact, making a sweater for him as a gift. He later returns the favor by making a pair of mittens for her.

* ''WebVideo/WelcomeToSanditon'': Ladies of Sanditon organize a craft night once a week, and the first thing they did when Gigi arrived was some weird knitted potholder.

* ''WesternAnimation/IlEtaitUneFois'': The TheRoaringTwenties episode has Pierre as a mechanic/car builder and his girlfriend Pierrette as a seamstress and fashion designer.

The art most frequently depicted is spinning, which is the most time-consuming, and also easily portable and interruptible. This makes spinning, along with other textile arts such as weaving and knitting, very compatible with childcare. With a distaff, a woman can spin with one hand, leaving the other available to aid with nursing. Once a child is past infancy, they can aid in the textile process as well by teasing fleece, carding, and once they reach an age at which they have control of their hands, in the spinning itself. This historical fact is why, until well into the 20th century, textile arts excepting the more labor-intensive activities (such as fulling flax, rope-making, weaving, etc.) were feminine by default. Beginning in the latter part of the 20th century, this convention faded steadily due to a combination of industrialization, the craft movement, and increasing gender equality.

The UsefulNotes/IndustrialRevolution was the TropeBreaker, slowly working down the tasks. Though early textile mills relied on a young female workforce, spinning and weaving were among the first things that automation took over. In [[TheFifties the 1950s]], the {{Housewife}} had a sewing machine. Since then, textile arts have seesawed between "cool hobby" (which is where they are now) to "fit only for [[NeedleworkIsForOldPeople old ladies]]" (which is where they were in [[TheEighties the 1980s]]). Naturally, since most writers are middle-aged and grew up in the 1980s, media directed at young males mostly perpetuates the inaccurate (and rather strange) idea that nobody knits anymore. Cue laughter from the 8.5 million users of Ravelry.

The UsefulNotes/IndustrialRevolution was the TropeBreaker, slowly working down the tasks. Though early textile mills relied on a young female workforce, spinning and weaving were among the first things that automation took over. In [[TheFifties the 1950s]], the {{Housewife}} had a sewing machine. Since then, textile arts have seesawed between "cool hobby" (which is where they are now) to "fit only for [[NeedleworkIsForOldPeople old ladies]]" (which is where they were in [[TheEighties the 1980s]]). Naturally, since most writers are middle-aged and grew up in the 1980s, media directed at young males mostly perpetuates the inaccurate (and rather strange) idea that nobody knits anymore. Cue laughter from the five million users of Ravelry.

* Plutarch: In ''Sayings of Spartan Women'', this is inverted when an Ionian woman showed off her valuable weaving, and a Spartan woman pointed to her four sons, well-behaved: "Such should be the employments of the good and honourable woman, and it is over these that she should be elated and boastful."

The RebelliousPrincess and other {{tomboy}}ish female characters are likely to be bad at them, which is generally treated in more modern works less seriously than it was in RealLife. Expect a tomboyish girl in a pre-modern setting to be forced to sit through a sewing lesson and be terrible at it, her stitches flying all over the cloth, while being compared to [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl a more feminine girl her age]] (often her sister) who can do it perfectly.

The RebelliousPrincess and other {{tomboy}}ish female characters are likely to be bad at them, which is generally treated in more modern works less seriously than it was in RealLife. Expect a tomboyish girl in a pre-modern setting to be forced to sit through a sewing lesson and be terrible at it, her stitches going all over the place, while being compared to [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl a more feminine girl her age]] (often her sister) who can do it perfectly.

All of these are feminine tasks, undertaken by women and proving them womanly; among well-to-do characters, this is [[GoodOldWays a sign of old-fashioned virtue]], especially if other women devote the time to partying, and among poorer ones, a sign of them being thrifty housekeepers. The princess or other lady, handing out TheLadysFavour to the KnightInShiningArmor, often made it with her own hands. This is the source of the ''distaff'' in DistaffCounterpart. The RebelliousPrincess and other {{tomboy}}ish female characters are likely to be bad at them, which is generally treated in more modern works less seriously than it was in RealLife.

** A young woman named Arachne claimed she was better at weaving than the goddess Athena, who is so pissed off (since yanno, {{Pride}} is one of the worse sins a human could ever commit) that she comes round to challenge Arachne to a contest or "weave-off". When Arachne loses she's so upset she hangs herself, so Athena turns her into a spider. In other versions, Athena was still upset but wanted to give Arachne a last chance before she damned herself and did so under the disguise of an old woman, but Arachne was so arrogant that she blew Athena's warnings off and ''then'' came the challenge with the same disastrous results. In ''[[RashomonStyle another]]'' version of the story, the victor was unclear, but Athena curses Arachne because the latter's weaving was [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu blasphemous/insulting]] to the Olympians (some versions say that the weaving was critical of the gods' entitledness/rampant sexual misconduct). Other versions say that Arachne's weaving [[NotHyperbole was indeed better]], but that she was a [[UnsportsmanlikeGloating Sore Winner]], and/or [[JerkassGods Athena was a]] SoreLoser, so Athena cursed her.
** Princess Philomela of Athens wove a tapestry with pictures showing the TraumaCongaLine that had happened to her -- her older sister Procne's husband, King Thereus of Thracia, had raped her, cut out her tongue, ''and'' [[GirlInTheTower locked her away.]] She then gave the tapestry to a servant as a gift for the queen, which let Procne know about Philomela's BreakTheCutie process. [[KnightTemplarBigBrother I]][[ImAHumanitarian t]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge we]][[OffingTheoffspring nt]] FromBadToWorse [[BalefulPolymorph immediately]] [[DownerEnding afterwards.]]
** During the Roman kingdom, once the men bet about their wives, back at Rome, and return to find all of them but Lucretia were partying; she was weaving with her maids. (This was the point at which Sextus Tarquinius resolved to rape her, which drove [[DefiledForever poor]] [[BreakTheCutie Lucretia]] [[{{Seppuku}} to kill herself]]). [[ThisMeansWar The citizens of Rome did not take that kindly.]]

* ''LightNovel/InvadersOfTheRokujyouma'': The school's Knitting Club [[ClubStub consists solely of]] the IllGirl Harumi and male protagonist Koutarou, the latter of whom laments that people probably think he just joined to find a girlfriend. When Harumi's graduation approaches, Koutarou asks one of his female friends to join the club as a figurehead president, believing that first-year girls wouldn't want to join a Knitting Club run by a guy (especially not one with [[FaceOfAThug a face as scary as his]]).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', [[{{CloudCuckoolander}} Leni]] is an aspiring fashion designer who makes most of her own clothing and one of the most feminine of the Loud sisters.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'', sewing is one of the many feminine tasks that [[ProperLady Queen Elinor]] tries to teach to her [[RebelliousPrincess rebellious]] daughter Merida. It proves to be a ChekhovsSkill as Merida sews the tapestry she symbolically damaged [[spoiler:in an attempt to break the spell that turned her mother into a bear.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', Tiana's mother Eudora is a seamstress.

%% Older Than Steam examples at the beginning
* In the ''Literature/{{Iliad}}'', Andromache is working on clothing for Hector when she is told of his death.
* In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', Penelope is putting off the suitors with her weaving--not, for once, clothes, but a cloth to be used at her father-in-law's funeral (he is, in fact, still alive). She tears it apart every night and starts again in the morning.
* Creator/{{Socrates}}:
** In Creator/{{Plato}}'s account, he, arguing that you have to trust experts, points out that a woman's authority is greater than a man's in textile work.
** In Xenophon's, he depicts Socrates explaining to a man that he could get his female relatives in his household to do textile work, and support them on proceeds. He also has him point out that where spinning wool is in question, the women are the authorities and so are treated as such.
* From Literature/TheBible:

* In Plutarch's ''Sayings of Spartan Women'', this is inverted when an Ionian woman showed off her valuable weaving, and a Spartan woman pointed to her four sons, well-behaved: "Such should be the employments of the good and honourable woman, and it is over these that she should be elated and boastful."
* In various forms of the ''Constance'' cycle of ChivalricRomance, Constance is said to support herself in Rome by her needlework, until her husband's pilgrimage leads to their reunion.
* In ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', Polgara mends while sitting around even though she could magically repair the clothing much quicker.
* In Louisa May Alcott's ''Literature/LittleWomen'', when Professor Bhaer comes calling on her family, Jo sits down with her sewing.
* Inverted in Creator/GeorgeEliot's ''Literature/SilasMarner'' -- subtitled "The Weaver of Raveloe". Silas makes beautiful linen, really loves his work and you can hear his loom going day and night.
* In ''[[Literature/EarthsChildren Clan of the Cave Bear]]'' making clothes - not textiles, but out of animal skins - cleaning, etc. is women's work. In the Clan, males and females have different GeneticMemory such that women can't hunt and men can't cook/make clothes/etc.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', feminine Sansa can embroider beautifully, and tomboyish Arya is always avoiding it. In an ironic reference to the pastime she hated so much, when she's given a sword she [[ICallItVera names it]] "Needle".
* ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' features Madame Defarge and her fellow female revolutionaries during the Reign of Terror, who sit beside the guillotine and encode the names of the executed into their sewing patterns. This is based on the real-life [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricoteuse tricoteuses]] who famously knitted beside the guillotine so casually.
* In Creator/SMStirling's ''Literature/TheDraka'' books, the serf Rakhsana knits and embroiders, while Draka women never do such things.
* In Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''Literature/{{Freckles}}'', Angel speaks at length about clothes mothers make for newborns.

* In ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', girls are brainwashed to stop them from doing textile work themselves, in order to make them spend money to support the economy.
* In Creator/LMMontgomery's ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' books:
** Miss Cornelia shows her tender side by her relentless sewing -- even at Thanksgiving -- clothing for poor children.
** A man, sulking in silence, is finally galvanized to speak when his wife says he crochets beautifully.
* In [[Literature/LittleHouseOnThePrairie the Little House books,]] both Ma and Laura hate sewing, but are still skilled, efficient seamstresses due to this trope ([[JustifiedTrope worth noting]] that the ''only'' jobs available to a woman at that time would be teaching and sewing, so they have to take those jobs if they want any chance to make money). At one point, she gets a job helping a woman in town sew shirts for all the bachelors who don't have a wife to do it for them, and the woman comments that Laura beats her sewing buttonholes. The narration explains that Laura hates sewing buttonholes so much, she's learned to do it quickly. The day Pa buys Ma a sewing machine is almost the happiest we ever see her, and when Laura gets innovative with muslin sheets, Ma, normally a traditionalist, only comments, "Our grandmothers would turn in their graves, but after all, these are modern times." By contrast, Laura's sister Mary ''does'' seem to enjoy sewing, enough that she learns to do hems and the like by touch after losing her sight.
* In Margot Benary-Isbert's ''The Ark'', Mother takes up sewing, quickly, in order to make money, and Andrea's best friend Lenchen is marvelous at sewing.
* In Creator/DianaWynneJones's ''Literature/CastleInTheAir'', the final reason the soldier cites for wanting to marry Princess Beatrice is that she can probably darn socks. She assures him that she can.
* In Creator/WenSpencer's ''[[Literature/{{Tinker}} Wolf Who Rules,]]'' Tinker thinks about how wives do the laundry and even have discussions about how to get grass stains out.

* The ''Literature/{{Circleverse}}'' has many kinds of magic worked through crafts. Two characters are "stitch witches" who work through, and enjoy working with, thread and cloth. All of the main four, including the boy Briar (though he uses cotton and flax since his magic is with plants), learn to spin fibers into thread, but it's primarily shown around the two women whose magic is worked through it.
* In Creator/CSLewis's ''Literature/TheFourLoves'', he recounts the story of a Mrs. Fidget, who included both knitting and sewing among her wifely and maternal virtues. Which meant the others in the family had to wear the things. (Her death caused them to donate a lot of them.)
* ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' features a [[StereotypeFlip broad inversion]] of most gender roles. As men, Jerin Whistler and Cullen Moorland are expected to have an interest in fashions, textiles, embroidery, and so on, but while they're both proficient at these things, neither has a love of it. Some female characters - tailors - have an interest, but others don't think about it at all.

Female textile work was in fact an economic activity of major importance to the welfare of her kin group given the lack of department stores and ready-made clothes for most of human history. In ImperialChina silk woven by the women of the household was used to pay taxes. In Norse folklore spinning and weaving were key elements in woman's magic, ''seiðr''.

Men - more commonly associated with [[SpearCounterpart comparatively masculine]] [[TheBlacksmith metalworking]] - who engage in such work must pull off RealMenWearPink to be taken seriously in most works. Even in {{Fairy Tale}}s, the tailor is more prone to be a trickster than a dragon-slayer. Compare FeminineWomenCanCook, with the added advantage that it's easy to lug about a distaff or some sewing or knitting and do it anywhere.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', Tiana's mother Eudora is a seamstress.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'', sewing is one of the many feminine tasks that [[ProperLady Queen Elinor]] tries to teach to her [[RebelliousPrincess rebellious]] daughter Merida. It proves to be a ChekhovsSkill as Merida sews the tapestry she symbolically damaged [[spoiler:in an attempt to break the spell that turned her mother into a bear.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'': While the mice are prepping Cinderella's pink dress so that she can go to the ball, one female mouse tells Jacques to "leave the sewing to the women!" It's downplayed, though. Given that we later see a male mouse helping sew the dress, it's possible she simply didn't trust ''him'' not to screw up with the sewing, as opposed to male mice in general.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'': Has Mirabel, the youngest daughter of a family where magical Gifts are bestowed on five-year-old children who then begin to become responsible citizens. For some reason, Mirabel received no Gift (and this is where the story really starts), so she's lived all of her fifteen years in the nursery, where she's gotten really, really good at sewing, knitting and especially embroidery. Her clothing is covered with bright symbols of her beloved family.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In ''[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheWarriorsOfKyoshi The Warriors of Kyoshi]]'', Katara is mending a tear in Sokka's pants, but when he starts spouting sexist rhetoric about girls being better at it than boys, she puts on a contrary smile and throws the garment back in his face, unfinished.

* There's an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' where Marge tells Lisa about a quilt that her female ancestors have contributed to for decades. Marge added a patch that said "Keep On Truckin'" but she didn't understand what it meant.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' the boys all take shop & the girls all take home ec. (Kenny manages to get himself placed in the Home Ec class because there's a lower risk of [[TheyKilledKenny getting killed]] there.)
-->'''Mr. Adler:''' Now, does anybody know ''why'' you're in shop class?
-->'''Stan:''' Because we had to choose between this and Home Ec, and we didn't wanna be sissies?

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ewoks}}'' - In the second season, when all the characters are implied to be studying to become something, Latara is a "hoodmaker apprentice". This is later mentioned in her introduction card for the ''Shadows of Endor'' comic, with a mention that she designed her unusual hood by herself. [[http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/843/kkcld.jpg link]]
* In the French series ''WesternAnimation/IlEtaitUneFois'', the TheRoaringTwenties episode has Pierre as a mechanic/car builder and his girlfriend Pierrette as a seamstress and fashion designer.
* Mabel Pines of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' is very much a GirlyGirl and knitting cute, colorful sweaters is one of her hobbies. She can be seen periodically working on new sweaters throughout the series.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', [[{{CloudCuckoolander}} Leni]] is an aspiring fashion designer who makes most of her own clothing and one of the most feminine of the Loud sisters.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'' has Mirabel, the youngest daughter of a family where magical Gifts are bestowed on five-year-old children who then begin to become responsible citizens. For some reason, Mirabel received no Gift (and this is where the story really starts), so she's lived all of her fifteen years in the nursery, where she's gotten really, really good at sewing, knitting and especially embroidery. Her clothing is covered with bright symbols of her beloved family.

* In ''Film/DemolitionMan'', the hero is repeatedly embarrassed that he had been trained in the fine arts of knitting and sewing while in hibernation.
* In ''Film/{{Sightseers}}'', Tina (one half of an OutlawCouple) knits. She turns out to have been knitting [[spoiler:a bra and crotchless knickers]]. Kinky!
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdvQ-765TMo "The Sewing Machine Song"]] from ''Film/{{The Perils of Pauline|1947}}''. The character laments having to spend long hours working in a textile factory when she'd rather be doing something else.
* Inverted with Benny the cop in ''Film/{{Kopps}}'', who knits headbands for his colleagues. It's lampshaded by his neighbors.

* In ''Film/{{Suffragette}}'' this trope is, as befitting the time, played completely straight. Almost all the protagonists who are shown working are laundering clothes (the one exception being a woman who works in her husband's pharmacy)...a not only time-consuming and boring but also very hard and dangerous job. The protagonist's mother died in a work accident. Most women take their infants to work regardless, as they need the money.
* ''Film/MadeInDagenham'' was about the Ford sewing machinists' strike of 1968, where the overwhelmingly female workers making the car seats downed tools in protest at discriminatory pay between the sexes.
* In ''Film/TheMiseducationOfCameronPost'', according to the CureYourGays camp, the "reason" behind one of the boys' sexuality is that he bonded with his mother over crafts too much.

The art most frequently depicted is spinning, which is the most time-consuming, and also easily portable and interruptible. This makes spinning, along with other textile arts such as weaving and knitting, very compatible with childcare. With a distaff, a woman can spin with one hand, leaving the other available to aid with nursing. Once a child is past infancy, he or she can aid in the textile process as well by teasing fleece, carding, and once they reach an age at which they have control of their hands, in the spinning itself. This historical fact is why, until well into the 20th century, textile arts excepting the more labor-intensive activities (such as fulling flax, rope-making, weaving, etc.) were feminine by default. Beginning in the latter part of the 20th century, this convention faded steadily due to a combination of industrialization, the craft movement, and increasing gender equality.

** ''Literature/WhuppityStoorie'' revolves around a "green gentlewoman" saving a woman's pig and demanding her child. Spinning has a part in the tale because the gentlewoman is spinning when she sings of her name.

* In ''Literature/TheThreeAunts'', the other servants claim instead that she claimed marvelous abilities to spin, weave, and sew. The heroine doesn't dare say that she can't.
* In ''[[http://grimm.pangyre.org/tale/128-the-lazy-spinner.html The Lazy Spinner,]]'' the woman tricks her husband to get out of the work.

* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/stories/norroway.html The Black Bull of Norroway,]]'' the heroine washes bloodstains out of the hero's shirt, which is the test for the bride.

* In ''Literature/TheSixSwans'' and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Swans The Wild Swans]], the WickedStepmother sews six magical shirts to transform her stepsons into swans. Her stepdaughter sets out to save the swan princes by sewing six shirts from starflowers ''and'' becoming an ElectiveMute. [[spoiler: She either finishes right before being executed [[FrameUp for crimes that she never commited]] or is still sewing when she's about to be [[BurnTheWitch burned at the stake]]; in any way, her brothers rescue her and put on the shirts to recover their human forms and prove her innocence.]]
** In the near-identical tale [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Wild_Ducks The Twelve Wild Ducks]], Snowy-White-and-Rosy-Red has to do the same for her twelve older brothers. [[spoiler: She's also framed for crimes and near executed, and her brothers ''also'' take the shirts and de-enchant themselves to save her.]]
* In ''[[http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=lang&book=red&story=nettle The Nettle Spinner,]]'' the cruel lord refuses to let Renelde marry unless she makes herself a wedding shift and him a shroud out of nettles. She does.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* The ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' AU ''Fanfic/{{Brainbent}}'':

* ''Fanfic/ThePrayerWarriors'' naturally believe in [[StayInTheKitchen gender-segregated roles]], so as such, Jerry expresses the belief that females, and ''only females'' should make clothes.

** The "Proverbs" example quoted above sings the praises of a woman who runs a textile business as well as taking care of her family. It's often used by some sects in the modern age to demonstrate [[StayInTheKitchen "a woman's place",]] but [[FairForItsDay it was actually written]] to encourage men to appreciate what their wives were doing. Indeed, the woman in the poem is portrayed [[PluckyGirl as strong and capable,]] and her husband ''boasts'' about her to his friends and colleagues.

* There are also plenty of [[http://www.menwhoknit.com Men Who Knit]]. Guys even made their own "pussy hats" to wear as allies during the 2016-17 women's marches.

* In [[Literature/LittleHouseOnThePrairie the Little House books,]] both Ma and Laura hate sewing, but are still skilled, efficient seamstresses due to this trope ([[JustifiedTrope worth noting]] that the ''only'' jobs available to a woman at that time would be teaching and sewing, so they have to take those jobs if they want any chance to make money). At one point, she gets a job helping a woman in town sew shirts for all the bachelors who don't have a wife to do it for them, and the woman comments that Laura beats her sewing buttonholes. The narration explains that Laura hates sewing buttonholes so much, she's learned to do it quickly. The day Pa buys Ma a sewing machine is almost the happiest we ever see her, and when Laura gets innovative with muslin sheets, Ma, normally a traditionalist, only comments, "Our grandmothers would turn in their graves, but after all, these are modern times." By contrast, Laura's sister Mary ''does'' seem to enjoy sewing, so much so that she even figures out how to do some sewing while blind.