Dressmaker - Fun Activities - Manufacturing and Production

Manufacturing & Production - DRESSMAKER

The Sempstress by Richard Redgrave (1846)

Primary Middle Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Intercultural Understanding

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy

Cooperative Learning Activity

1. In pairs, go to the Smart History video about the art work of Richard Redgrave's The Sempstress, oil on canvas, 1846
https://youtu.be/idcds5ftAd4 Video (10mins)

At the exhibition in 1846, the painting was accompanied with an excerpt of Thomas Hood's 1843 poem

'The Song of the Shirt'

'Oh! men with sisters dear,/
Oh! men with mothers and wives,/
It is not linen you're wearing out,/
But human creatures' lives.'

The original painting is untraced but Redgrave later produced a replica in 1846 which is now in Tate Britain. (Source: Royal Academy)

2. Together, listen to the transcript and video about this painting by Richard Redgrave about the Sempstress (Dressmaker).

What did you learn about this painting and the subject of the painting, The Sempstress?

Write down as many points as you can individually and then share as a pair.

3. What do you know now about this Sempstress? Use what you know to write a story about this Sempstress and her life. 2 paragraphs.

4. Share with your partner.

Secondary

1. In pairs, view the video above. Write down as many points as you can about what the painting portrayed and its importance in Victorian England.

2. In 2010, this painting came to the Art Gallery of NSW. An archived audio about this historically very important painting (7min 20secs) can be heard:

Local copy: mp3 Listen with border

WebArchive copy (you will need your teacher to obtain access to the WebArchive to listen to this audio clip)

Add to your understanding of the painting by writing down 5 more points (at least!) from this audio with your partner.

3. Together, read the following poem (in full) that Richard Redgrave quoted with his painting: Read

Song of the Shirt
Thomas Hood

With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread—
Stitch! stitch! stitch!
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch
She sang the "Song of the Shirt."

"Work! work! work!
While the cock is crowing aloof!
And work—work—work,
Till the stars shine through the roof!
It's O! to be a slave
Along with the barbarous Turk,
Where woman has never a soul to save,
If this is Christian work!

"Work—work—work,
Till the brain begins to swim;
Work—work—work,
Till the eyes are heavy and dim!
Seam, and gusset, and band,
Band, and gusset, and seam,
Till over the buttons I fall asleep,
And sew them on in a dream!

"O, men, with sisters dear!
O, men, with mothers and wives!
It is not linen you're wearing out,
But human creatures' lives!
Stitch—stitch—stitch,
In poverty, hunger and dirt,
Sewing at once, with a double thread,
A Shroud as well as a Shirt.

"But why do I talk of death?
That phantom of grisly bone,
I hardly fear his terrible shape,
It seems so like my own—
It seems so like my own,
Because of the fasts I keep;
Oh, God! that bread should be so dear.
And flesh and blood so cheap!

"Work—work—work!
My labour never flags;
And what are its wages? A bed of straw,
A crust of bread—and rags.
That shattered roof—this naked floor—
A table—a broken chair—
And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank
For sometimes falling there!

"Work—work—work!
From weary chime to chime,
Work—work—work,
As prisoners work for crime!
Band, and gusset, and seam,
Seam, and gusset, and band,
Till the heart is sick, and the brain benumbed,
As well as the weary hand.

"Work—work—work,
In the dull December light,
And work—work—work,
When the weather is warm and bright—
While underneath the eaves
The brooding swallows cling
As if to show me their sunny backs
And twit me with the spring.

"O! but to breathe the breath
Of the cowslip and primrose sweet—
With the sky above my head,
And the grass beneath my feet;
For only one short hour
To feel as I used to feel,
Before I knew the woes of want
And the walk that costs a meal!

"O! but for one short hour!
A respite however brief!
No blessed leisure for Love or hope,
But only time for grief!
A little weeping would ease my heart,
But in their briny bed
My tears must stop, for every drop
Hinders needle and thread!"

With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread—
Stitch! stitch! stitch!
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch,—
Would that its tone could reach the Rich!—
She sang this "Song of the Shirt!"

This poem is in the public domain.
(Source: Poets.org)

4. Together, take ONE stanza of the poem and analyse it in reference to Richard Redgrave's painting. Share with another pair.

5. The History of these times - read the following article by Dr Beth Harris

(Source: Victorian Web)