I adore all things Austen: her books, the movies, and the BBC miniseries. I am always curious about the needlework that people stitched in every time period. And the Regency Era, in which needlework was the purview of ladies of leisure, especially intrigues me. I was excited to learn about all the ways in which Jane Austen and her characters were involved in the needlework world.
Here are six interesting pieces of information I discovered while reading the articles and projects in PieceWork magazine’s Spring 2025 issue, which celebrates the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth:
1. Jane Austen was a needleworker!
“It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.” Sense and Sensibility
As if I needed another reason to admire this brilliant woman, Austen was a lifelong needleworker. In fact, she wrote many letters to her sister Cassandra detailing her progress on one project or another and discussing at length the fashions of the day.
2. The Jane Austen House at Chawton has items in her collection that Austen actually made herself.
“Success supposes endeavor.” Emma
I was thrilled to find out that pieces of Austen’s own needlework are on display in the house she lived in while she wrote, revised, and published Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. I am especially intrigued by a lovely muslin shawl she embroidered in the most delicate satin stitches. I can easily believe that Jane was dreaming of felicitous social occasions that would require the use of such a fine wrap as she sat and stitched the tiny motifs.
The Regency Shawl, Shirley Paden’s swoon-worthy shawl to knit, will make you the belle of the ball. Lovely twisted stitches and pretty bobbles make this a wrap to remember.
3. Austen also read a magazine that had embroidery designs in it!
“But for my own part, if a book is well written, I always find it too short.” Catharine, or the Bower
I am sure Austen found plenty to read and enjoy in the Lady’s Magazine (1770–1819). She may have been inspired by the fashion reports and plates, as well as the pattern pages with drawn designs that could be used for all sorts of needlework. There were no stitch instructions or thread suggestions: the designs were meant to be interpreted by the stitcher.
4. A number of characters in Austen’s books were needleworkers and knitters.
“One man’s ways may be as good as another’s but we all like our own best.” Persuasion
Austen, ever judicious with words, used skill with a needle as a way to compliment some of her characters. Conversely, lack of needlework skill served as a means to insult at least one of her characters. Her letters show that she was keenly interested in needlework and fashion and that she had strong opinions about both.
5. Austen knew that attire was important to social success.
“To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.” Pride and Prejudice
Regency-Era evening dresses, hairstyles, and dancing slippers all had a purpose and conveyed much about the wearer’s monetary status, social class, and level of sophistication. Sewing or embroidering clothing or accessories was something that many young ladies did in anticipation of attending a ball. Although, as Austen points out in Northanger Abbey: “It would be mortifying to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire.”
6. Austen was surrounded by Regency-Era needlework that may be unfamiliar to us.
“How quick come the reasons for approving what we like!” Persuasion
Knitted pinballs, fancy bonnets, stitched wall and card pockets, and embroidered muffs are not things we have much use for now, but oh my, were they beautiful! A number of Austen’s letters to her sister Cassandra mention caps, and in one from March of 1814 she wrote about her attempts to embellish one: “I have been ruining myself in black satin ribbon with a proper perl edge; & now I am trying to draw it up into kind of Roses, instead of putting it in plain double plaits.”
Natalia Frank’s Diminutive Dance Slippers in petit point (shown here as a pincushion) bring the charm of a Regency ball to your worktable.
Jane Austen’s romantic novels give us a window into a world in which a lady spent many hours occupied by her stitching, was sometimes judged by the quality of her needlework, and often wore her handiwork for all to see. We may no longer have time to while away our days with a needle in hand, but we can certainly enjoy the beauty of early-eighteenth-century-styled needlework. For more in-depth information about Jane Austen and Regency-inspired knitting, tatting, embroidery, and quilting patterns, see PieceWork Spring 2025.
Also, remember that if you are an active subscriber to PieceWork magazine, you have unlimited access to previous issues, including Spring 2025. See our help center for the step-by-step process on how to access them.
Pat Olski is the editor of PieceWork.