Elaine Freedgood

Fine Fingers: Victorian Handmade Lace and Utopian Consumption

alike and equal, is indistinguishable from the commodity” (171). 9In the description of Davidoff and Hall, the work of trimming and decorating performs important symbolic work, creating a home that is clearly separate from— because so different from—the public sphere (see 321–96). 10I owe this idea to Jack Amariglio. In a related argument, Armstrong contends that “conduct books differentiated the woman’s ideal role from both labor and amusement; they created a new category of labor” (79). 11It is worth noting that we do not routinely think of a work of “fine” art as handmade; rather we assume implicitly that a whole body (including a mind) was needed for