PAINTED PORCELAIN - A POPULAR PASTIME FOR VICTORIAN & EDWARDIAN WOMEN

From 1880 to 1920, a popular hobby for middle class and wealthy American women was the painting of porcelain “blanks.” Women continued to make beautiful works of art with their needles. Adornment of the home and body through embroidery, crochet, tatting, lacemaking, knitting, and quilting all continued to be popular. Sketching and painting were common. But the rise of mass production of high quality porcelain and its availability for decorating at home led to a new craze. Women of the newly ascendant middle class had more time and money than ever before and they used this leisure time to make beautiful things.