Ladies' Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society

[nancylebov]

Anyone know the source for that phrase? I have a faint memory that it was a DC area social group, but I'm not sure.

Comments

[fixx.livejournal.com]

This google search revealed the following results in the first few hits.

http://www.google.com/search?complete=1&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22Ladies%27+Sewing+Circle+and+Terrorist+Society%22+%2Borigin&btnG=Search

Sewing circle

1 April 2002, 2:02 AM

Got mail tonight asking if I knew the origin of the “Ladies Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society” logo/concept. I didn’t, but thought it was possible that someone out there might know. Anyone? (There are plenty of rumors and suggestions, and sources of T-shirts; I’m looking specifically for hard information as to who started it all.)

Comments

I sent away for a "Ladies Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society" t-shirt from a magazine ad(probably in Mother Jones) in the late 70s and wore it proudly for years. I remember getting an info sheet which included a short story about surreptitious syrup (honest!). It's sketchy (my memory, this is) but I remember that the Society originated in the Pacific Northwest, Washington maybe. I bet I have that piece of paper somewhere around here and when I find it, I will post it.

I'm thinking about starting a chapter. Any suggestions?

Posted by: Sarah Robison Maybrier (mail) | March 25, 2003 04:13 PM

[hakeber.livejournal.com]

A Tale of Two Cities....believe it or not. It was the ladies who sat doing their needlework below the scaffold for the guilotine. But I don't know when it entered the common vernacular.

'fraid not

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Nancy asked: "Anyone know the source for that phrase?" The phrase, not the idea. The attribution to To2C rang false to me, and it IS false, but for the wrong reason. I think of "terrorist" as a modern word, but it originated with reference, indeed, to the French Revolution.

But I just downloaded the complete text of To2C from Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/98) and searched for "sewing", not case-sensitive, partial words allowed. There is exactly one match:

Through the dismal prison twilight, his new charge accompanied him by corridor and staircase, many doors clanging and locking behind them, until they came into a large, low, vaulted chamber, crowded with prisoners of both sexes. The women were seated at a long table, reading and writing, knitting, sewing, and embroidering; the men were for the most part standing behind their chairs, or lingering up and down the room.

Broadening the search to "sew" only adds a half-dozen or so "elsewhere"s.

So, Nancy, you'll have to search elsewhere for the origin of the phrase.

[suecochran.livejournal.com]

The name of the woman character who was in To2C isn't coming to mind right now, but at one time I knew it - but she knit, rather than sewed.

[suecochran.livejournal.com]

I think that perhaps Donna Camp might know this. I don't know if she's on LJ or not. If you need her phone number, you can e-mail me for it.

[suecochran.livejournal.com]

Got too curious and googled it. Madame DeFarge was the knitter in Dickens' tale.

[romsfuulynn.livejournal.com]

Already established by the 70s as indicated above. Somebody used it for a paper title in 85
http://www.sjsu.edu/~ecrowe/eccv.htm

this ref puts it in Canada
http://fanac.org/Fan_Histories/Canada/Canada-70s.html

But I think it is older...

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I found that one, too. If an answer turns up, I'll email it to whoever wrote it.

[nwl.livejournal.com]

It possibly was a DC group, but before our time, if so. I always associate it with Star Trek fandom, but I can't say why.

[(Anonymous)]

My extremely vague memory places the Ladies' Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society as Midwestern--Madison, WI, or Minnesota fandom--in the late '70s, early '80s, and it was rather tongue-in-cheek.

I'm probably wrong, though.

Tale of 2 Cities

[(Anonymous)]

Madame La Farge