Hay and district
Victorian school days
  Making frocks and pinafores  
 

Sewing, dressmaking and knitting were treated as very important Child wearing pinafore subjects for the girls who went to school in Victorian times.
There were not many jobs open to young girls after they left school, and most of them would become servants in the houses of the wealthier families of the district.
The schools mostly had a part-time Sewing Mistress who would teach the girls skills which would be required for these jobs.
These two entries are from the Log Book of Llyswen National School in 1870...
20th May - "First class girls commenced making a child's frock for the examination".
Do you like
my new pinafore ?
20th May
1870
School diary entry
15th July
1870
School diary entry
15th July - "Made 4 pinafores, 1 child's frock, and 2 night-dresses".
The sampler shown here was made by a 13 year old girl in 1865. It is one of many Victorian items on display at the Radnorshire Museum in Llandrindod Wells
Another regular feature of the sewing classes in Victorian schools was the making of samplers.
This involved using a variety of stitches and different coloured threads to make an elaborate design on a piece of woven cloth. The samplers usually included letters of the alphabet, animal and flower shapes, and often the girls would sew their names into the pattern.
A child's sampler from the Radnorshire Museum in Llandrindod Wells is shown in the photograph.		 Victorian sampler
 

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