I am Elizabeth Blackburn in the Society for Creative Anachronism, local to the Barony of Stromgard, kingdom of An Tir. I am a seamstress and metalsmith who works primarily in fine silver. Technically, I am a goldsmith even though, fun fact: I’m allergic to gold! You will never catch me working with it, however I do make jewelry, predominantly Roman.
There were female goldsmiths in Imperial Rome! We know this thanks to epitaphs that indicate profession. While some have posited that women with certain crafting professions were, rather than the makers, sellers or custodians of the finished product. However, there is little more than misogyny to support that claim. I believe, based on my resources, that there were female craftspeople in Imperial Rome, including goldsmiths.
It is far less likely that there were female goldsmiths in medieval England. There were definitely seamstresses, though!
Why “Seams like a lady”? Because my real passion is construction, rather than patterning. Not that all of my garb is hand sewn, or even hand finished (I have a day job, after all), but most of it is hand finished, and my Roman is all hand sewn. It’s been a minute since I’ve visited my sewing research, as I’ve been focused more on metal, but as I’m at the beginning of a new set of 14th century garb, having outgrown my old clothes, I’m getting back into it.
Expect to see some of my old blog posts, from seamslikealady.blogspot.com, to show up on here, but also expect to find class handouts, (new and improved) tutorials, and lots of progress pics on this site!
Seams Like a Lady 