Crafting the 18th Century Jennie Batchelor and Chloe Wigston Smith
Event details
Gain insight into the range of crafts practiced and designed by women and girls in the 18th century at our hands-on workshop presented by the University of York’s Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies.
The session will open with an introduction to the history, meanings and uses of manual skills and material literacy in the period, and how they were connected to education, scientific knowledge, print culture and household management.
You’ll then have a chance to try out some adapted techniques, including embroidery, shellwork and drawing.
All materials will be provided and no prior experience is necessary.
‘Crafting the 18th Century’ is one of a number of events taking place as part of a special edition of YorkTalks. Celebrating University of York’s research at its best, we invite you to explore a dynamic landscape of curated talks, live performances and hands-on activities staged in the historic Heslington Hall and its grounds on the theme Heritage Reframed.
About the speakers
Jennie Batchelor is Head and Professor of English at the University of York. Her recent books The Lady’s Magazine and the Making of Literary History (2022), which won the 2023 Colby Book Prize, and the popular history-craft book, Jane Austen Embroidery (2020). In 2025 she was co-curator of Austen and Turner: A Country House Encounter at Harewood House.
Chloe Wigston Smith is Professor of Eighteenth Century Studies in the Department of English and Related Literature and Director of the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies at the University of York. Her most recent book is Novels, Needleworks, and Empire: Material Entanglements in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World (Yale University Press).
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