The Origins of the Sweat Shop: a Victorian Shirt for my Gonzo Cosplay

This is the first official part of my series on sewing up a historically accurate cosplay of Gonzo from The Muppets Christmas Carol! And what better place to start with the most common item in a wardrobe of the Victorian era: the shirt. When Charles Dickens published his famous work in 1843, the simple white shirt was such a necessity that it was sold mostly by the dozen or half dozen. But with so much demand, production companies sought ways to keep costs low and turn out high. Which led to problems that sound suspiciously similar to our modern concerns over ethical clothing production. Charles Dickens himself was known to have great concerns over working conditions in Victorian England and abroad. Having spent some of his childhood employed in a bootblack factory through the workhouse, he was acutely aware of the situation many of the working class found themselves stuck in. One particular group that garnered attention in the early 1840s was that of seamstresses making shirts. They made very little money in comparison to the hours of labor they put in, being paid by the piece. All of their work was still done by hand sewing, often in the home. Supposedly a court case which revealed the dismal wages of women in the workhouse producing shirts brought about an awareness and concern for the conditions of all seamstresses working in that field. Having timed myself hand-sewing shirts before, I am shocked at the speed at which these garments were produced. It usually takes me at