Gornal Wood, the most westerly of the three Gornals, is a village of seamstresses. In common with other parts of the Black Country, the women in Gornal Wood for a number of generations have stitched clothes which have been cut out by tailors in their establishments some miles away. At one time the wages received by the seamstresses for this home-stitching were a useful supplement to their men's money, but to-day in many homes in Gornal Wood these "stitcheries" are an absolute necessity for the livelihood of the family. Many of the wives were formerly employed in clothing factories, and the pressure of economic circumstances has driven them to their old trade but at home. It is the wife who works-while the husband, frequently as unemployed collier who has exhausted his insurance benefit, does the house-work. For, as one of them said to me, "Somebody's got to do it." So while the woman treadles the machine, her husband peels the potatoes-if there area any. Years ago, children carried "sewing" or "work" as it was called, to and from the tailor's shop, but the area of supply has widened, and now includes Birmingham. Sometimes the journey is made by bus, but often a lorry, or a truck, hired collectively by several woman carries the work twice or three times a week. I asked a well-known resident what was the extent of home-stitching, and he replied "There's a tremendous amount of it, in some houses you will find perhaps half-a-dozen machines going." Not only do the wife, daughters, and daughters-in-law stitch, but I was told that women employ girls leaving school to work for them. "What about the factory regulations?" I asked, and my informant could only spread this hands. " and the wages paid for the sewing?"
"Well, I don't know" he replied " but I think they're not very big."