Mantua-makers and Merchants

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In my search for fabric-related quotes some time ago, I came across some others relating to fashion, sewing, and society.  Here they are, collected for your entertainment

 The Artful Husband (William Taverner, 1717):


The Fable of the Bees (Bernard de Mandeville, 1724):
I like this one because it's such a universal - even today, you can see the same impulses driving changing trends.

Dictionarium Britannicum (1736):
 CABBAGE, whatever is purloin'd by Taylors and Mantua-Women from the Rayment they are to make up.  See a very ludicrous Account of it in the Tale of a Tub.
The Gentleman's and London Magazine (1741):


Select Trials (1742): 
Ann Jones.  I know Mrs. Davis very well, she is a Mantua-maker, and lives near me by Bethlem-Wall, thro' Great Moorgate. ... I take in Clear-starching and Plain-work.
...  
Lydia Walker.  I live in the Walk which leads from Holy Well-Mount, to Hoxton, and take in Quilting.
Chapters XLIV and XLV of The London Tradesman (1747), on staymaking and mantua-making are worth reading in their entirety.

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