Seamster, Sewer And Sewist : The Titles For Those Who Sew From 1470 To 2022

Abstract: This corpus study has focused on the titles used by those who sew as a hobby, primarily on the six most frequently used ones. The corpora used are Early English Books Online, Google Books Ngram Viewer and a corpus compiled in SketchEngine. The research also looked at the etymology and how their meanings might have changed from 1470 to 2022. The focus was also on to whom the titles have been assigned and if they are professionally trained or hobbyists. Among the findings, tailor is the most frequently used title over time; it is used more for male professionals. On the other hand, the most popular title today is sewist, which is used primarily by hobbyists, both males and females. Sewer is dropping in popularity while the others are increasing, possibly because it has several homographs making it easy to misinterpret in today’s society where the internet is used so frequently. However, it is still popular as it is the second most used title. In addition, seamster has changed whom it denotes the most frequently, from being for females to both genders to males, while seamstress is solely used for females across time. Finally, dressmaker is mainly used for women who sew professionally.