We're doing a giveaway!

To celebrate our collaboration kit & pattern with Melissa Galbraith of MCreativeJ, we are giving away one of Melissa's books, DIY Embroidered Shoes.

If you would like to enter the giveaway, visit Handmade History Podcast on Instagram. You'll see the giveaway post pinned right at the top and you can comment and enter there.

If you're not on Instagram, no worries! Just send us an email with your name and let us know that you'd like to enter the giveaway. You can email us at [email protected]. This giveaway closes on December 1, 2025.

This week, we are talking about blackwork, a type of counted embroidery that typically uses a special stitch called the Holbein stitch. Tradition holds that Queen Katherine of Aragon brought blackwork to England from Spain when she married Henry VIII, and that the Holbein stitch was named after Tudor court painter Hans Holbein the younger.

But blackwork was around for hundreds of years before the Tudors reigned.

Mamluk embroidery is a type of embroidery that looks just like blackwork--and it originated in Egypt in the 1200s. We explore the fascinating history of how this group of enslaved Turks and Central Asians rose to power, and how they made Egypt the center of the Arab world.

We go back even further in time to explore an Indian tradition, kasuti embroidery, which has all of the characteristics of modern blackwork. And it's still going strong today!

Join us on a journey around the world and across time as we explore the origins of blackwork!

Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/w3mmva9k

Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at [email protected].

Sign up for our free posts on our Patreon page at patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast.

Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.

This episode is brought to you by our Patreon page: visit patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast and sign up to get our free posts! You'll be the first to know when an episode is live. Explore more on each topic with videos, photos, and links to research rabbit holes.

This week also marks the launch of our first collaboration: the Wild Pansy Stumpwork Stitch Along! Pre-order your kit to make a beautiful stumpwork pansy designed by Melissa Galbraith of MCreativeJ. A PDF pattern is also available. Both include an exclusive history article from Handmade History. Then, join us for a stitch along in March. Visit MCreativeJ to pre-order your Wild Pansy Stumpwork Kit or PDF pattern today!

This week, we are talking about the mimeograph and other defunct print technology, including spirit duplicators, hectographs, and of course, the Gocco.

Did you know that an embroidery transfer method called pouncing inspired Thomas Edison to invent the first-ever copy machine, a flatbed mimeograph? Or that Allied airmen who plotted the Great Escape used food tins and gelatin from Red Cross rations to create a hectograph to copy maps and forged papers? Learn all this and more in this episode.

You'll find out how the mimeograph, a favorite tool of 1930s zinesters, evolved, and how to make a master for a spirit duplicator. You'll hear gems from a 1960s secretary training course, too. Plus, relive the glory days of early craft blogging as we chronicle the attempt to Save Gocco!

Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/4s3fktuw

Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at [email protected].

Sign up for our free posts on our Patreon page at patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast.

Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.

Sponsored by Folkwear Patterns.

Folkwear – Where history meets your hands. Visit Folkwear.com and use code HANDMADE20 for 20% off your purchase. Code is good through the end of 2025!

Cosplay might make you think of shiny spandex and elaborate makeup--but did you know it got its start in 1939? Morojo (pronounced mo-roy-oh) was the first ever sci-fi fan to create a costume for a con: a dress that converted into a cape and romper. This "costume of the future" inspired other fans to start making their own costumes, and soon the masquerade or costume contest was a fixture at cons around the country.

Join us as we follow cosplay through the decades: in the 60s, when the pilot of Star Trek debuted at a con in Ohio; in the 70s, when cosplayer Wendy Pini surprised a talk show host on TV; the 80s, when the term "cosplay" was invented by a Japanese journalist; and the 90s, when cosplay was still fringe but growing thanks to Sailor Moon.

Learn about how cosplay became a multi-billion dollar industry in the early 2000s and 2010s, and how cosplayers like Yaya Han made it possible for cosplay to be a career.

Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/3jkku7s9

Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at [email protected].

Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.

Sponsored by Folkwear Patterns.

Folkwear – Where history meets your hands. Visit Folkwear.com and use code HANDMADE20 for 20% off your purchase. Code is good through the end of 2025!

"Hairwork" probably makes you think of intricate Victorian mourning jewelry and silky sculpted hair under glass. We take a broad view of this craft and talk about hairwork from ancient times (such as false beards made of metal) to modern day (the fabulous wigs Queen Charlotte wears in Bridgerton).

We also share the varieties of hairwork that were made in the US from pre-colonial times (hair cord used to hang canteens in the cliffs of the Southwest) through the Victorian era (those silky sculptures, and so much more). Join us for a deep dive into what is considered a macabre craft that is actually fascinating, diverse, and occasionally very sweet.

Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/4b9bsekd

Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at [email protected].

Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.

Sponsored by MCreativeJ: Visit mcreativej.com today and raise your embroidery to new heights!

Esther Inglis was a skilled book artist, calligrapher and embroiderer who lived at the same time as Shakespeare. She created roughly 60 miniature handwritten copies of printed books and gifted them to nobles and royals (including Queen Elizabeth) to gain political and economic favors.

Join us as we discuss her life, her books, and the complex patronage system that she worked in. The child of French Huguenot emigrants to England and then Scotland, Inglis was educated in calligraphy by her mother and French by her father. Though she married a clerk, she wrote under her own name for almost all of her manuscripts. Her books, some as small as 1.75 inches tall, were handwritten copies of printed religious texts, including books of the Bible and collections of poetry. She also drew several self-portraits–she was the first British woman to include a self-portrait in a book.

Inglis used her books to further her political and religious goals (she was a Protestant, and she may have helped get James I onto the English throne) as well as earn money for her family. And, she handbound and embroidered the covers of several of her books. Listen in to hear how modern needlework historians recreated one of her 400-year-old covers, using velvet, tiny pearls, and gold thread.

We also share the mystery of one of her earliest manuscripts–did she write it herself?

Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/494m4y3n

Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at [email protected].

Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.

Sponsored by Folkwear Patterns.

Folkwear – Where history meets your hands. Visit Folkwear.com and use code HANDMADE20 for 20% off your purchase. Code is good through the end of 2025!

Up until relatively recently, when factory-manufactured fabric became readily available, many garments around the world were naturally low and zero-waste. People who spent days (or months!) creating fabric (or processing animal skin) did not typically throw away pieces of it. Many cultures developed clever techniques to use up all of the material they created, to provide ease and comfort to the wearer, and to make precious fabric fashion.

Join us as we explore garments like the Tarkhan dress (the oldest woven dress), the sari, the kimono, and various garments discovered on bog bodies, among others. Learn about the relationship between material and garment design, find out some of the interesting construction techniques people used, and follow us down deep dives into a variety of practices, from traditional weaving in Japan's Ainu culture to how Egyptians made pleats without an iron.

Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/54asn73s

Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at [email protected].

Visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts!

Sponsored by Folkwear Patterns: Visit www.folkwear.com today and sew something extraordinary.

We're gearing up for summer--literally--with an episode on aloha shirts and Bermuda shorts! Aloha wear was invented in Hawaii in the 1920s and 30s, but it really took off during WWII, when millions of military personnel passed through the island--and picked up souvenirs to send home. We share the history of aloha shirts from their birth in Hawaii to their boom on the mainland, and trace the evolution of two well-known aloha wear designers, Malihini Sportswear and Alfred Shaheen. We talk about the difficulties and opportunities given to different groups in Hawaii and share how Japanese American business owners found ways around discrimination to thrive in the Hawaiian economy. We also share inspiring and unique examples of modern aloha shirts in the New Zealand Museum's collection.

Then, we talk about Bermuda shorts. These long, formal shorts were invented--probably--on the island of Bermuda, which has an interesting history (did you know it was uninhabited until 1609?). We talk about Bermudas vs. Ghurka shorts, the official Boy Scout uniform, and how Bermuda shorts became "badges of independence" on Barnard College's campus in 1960.

Plus, we recap our most popular and favorite episodes of our first season--see you in September for more Handmade History!

Show notes & sources here: https://tinyurl.com/4bh8w3bd

Do you own or make aloha wear? Do you have a favorite Bermuda shorts pattern? We'd love to see your creations! Or have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at [email protected], or visit our website at handmadehistory.com.

Happy listening!

Sponsored by Folkwear Patterns: Visit www.folkwear.com today and sew something extraordinary.

Batik is a beautiful resist-dye tradition that has a strong association with Indonesia. In this episode, we share the history of batik and some of the history of Indonesia. The fourth most populous country in the world, made up of 17,000 (yes, you read that right) islands, Indonesia has a thousands-year-old tradition of batik. There are even depictions of batik carved into the stone monuments at Borobudur, one of Indonesia's most famous Buddhist monuments (and a UNESCO World Heritage Site).

In this episode, find out about the ways that batik was traditionally made, learn the differences between classical and coastal styles of batik, and discover how batik that was sold in the West differed from batik sold in Indonesia. You'll also hear about the connection between African waxprints and Dutch imitation batiks. (And learn how to use the word "batik"--spoiler alert: it's noun and verb.)

Show notes & sources here: https://tinyurl.com/3w5ymj3y

Do you batik? Do you have any batiks? We'd love to see your creations! Or have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at [email protected], or visit our website at handmadehistory.com.

Happy listening!

Sponsored by Folkwear Patterns: Visit www.folkwear.com today and sew something extraordinary.

If you ever made macrame anklets out of hemp or friendship bracelets out of embroidery floss, you joined in on a tradition of macrame that is 3000 years old! Macrame fringe appears on stone carvings from the Assyrian civilization--a kingdom of Mesopotamia--that date to the 1000s BCE. The tradition has continued in the Mediterranean up through the present day, and it spread (perhaps via the Moors of Northern Africa) to Spain and Europe, as well as the Americas. In the US, macrame became popular in the Victorian era as part of the Victorian obsession with lace, and again in the 1970s. We talk about why this simple but extraordinary craft gained popularity with the hippies.

We also touch on the broader tradition of knotting, which has been a part of human activity since humans became humans (and maybe even earlier!). We explore sailors' knotting art (a part of marlinspike seamanship) and how sailors may have helped spread the craft of macrame.

Also, those embroidery floss bracelets use a stitch created by a Victorian woman, Valentina Cavandoli, who ran a school in Italy.

Hear all these fun facts and more in this episode!

Show notes & sources here: https://tinyurl.com/mpesdbxu

Do you macrame? We'd love to see your creations! Or have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at [email protected], or visit our website at handmadehistory.com.

Happy listening!

Did you know that it took 100 years for the sewing machine to be invented? The sewing machine automated a process done by hand for tens of thousands of years--and it does it completely differently. A sewing machine uses lockstitch, a stitch you can't do by hand (without serious difficulty), two spools of thread, and a four-part mechanism to sew fabric together. Each of these parts of the sewing machine was invented by a different person, leading to mayhem and litigation. In fact, sewing machines are one of the first examples of a patent thicket, which led to the invention of the first patent pool.

Listen in to learn how Singer & Company successfully sold sewing machines around the world in the late 1800s and early 1900s, becoming one of the first mass-marketed global products. Find out how the sewing machine changed the readymade clothing industry, the lives of seamstresses (unfortunately not for the better), and the craft of quilting. And guess how many sewing machines we collectively own?

Show notes & sources here: https://tinyurl.com/448xt7u2

How many sewing machines do you have? Do you have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at [email protected], or visit our website at handmadehistory.com.

Happy listening!