Common threads: The meaning of needlework to ordinary women.

摘要

This research sought a clearer understanding of the meaning of needlework to ordinary women in their daily lives. The aim of this project was to inquire into the significance and purpose of needlework in women's lives and to increase awareness of its potential usefulness in the lives of others.;Conversations with contemporary needleworkers were examined using a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology. This interpretative method of study was chosen because it encouraged the participants' dialogue, explanation, interpretation, and partnership in the study. Researcher and participants cooperated to reach mutual understanding of the common threads throughout their lived experiences. Additionally, the researcher investigated the results of published oral histories of women's accounts of their needleworking as well as quantitative data to look for commonality and uniqueness among the different sets of texts to shape an understanding of the phenomenon.;Six women needleworkers who differed in age, marital status, parental status, employment status, education, socio-economic level, and level of needlework skill were interviewed. Four interviews of approximately one hour each were arranged with the individual women. The responses to similar, although not identical, questions were audiotaped and transcribed. With cooperative effort between researcher and the women, analysis and interpretation of the data revealed a primary theme of needlework as therapy for the women. Secondary themes common to the women were predictability, creativity, accomplishment, learning, and family.;The women's texts embellished the data from quantitative study, enhanced the texts of recorded histories, and provided greater understanding of the meaning that needlework has for women. In their words, needlework told the truth about real life at a given time and place.