Housewife pillowcase

[CandyLeBonBon]

I've just changed my bedsheets. Putting new bedding on, I've just noticed the name of the inexpensive, plain white pillowcases I bough to cope with the fact that I have three teens who don't care if they mix and match.

Why the fuck are they called 'housewife pillowcases'?

In this day and age? Am I missing something?

Aren't they the normal ones? With no border (which I think are called Oxfords or something).
Despite the name they can be used by anyone, even teenagers who can cope with their pillow cases not matching!
Agree that it's not the most equal opportunities term though.

Why the fuck are they called 'housewife pillowcases'?

That may possibly have a more interesting answer than anticipated...

^ Throughout history, specifically during the 19th Century, pillowcases had a simple opening at the end which would make the pillow fall out of the case.
In the 1880s the “Housewives Co-operative” originating in Bolton adapted a standard pillowcase to include an inside flap at the end, this flap would keep the pillowcase in its place. They became known as “Housewife” pillowcases to honour them.^

(I can't find any background on what exactly the Housewives Cooperative was, so this may be an Internet myth)

Fwiw when I lived in the US, I was surprised to find that pillowcases there didn't have the 'pocket', and a right pain they are too.

What is wrong about them referred to as a "housewife" pillowcase? Is it the reference to housewife?

@CandyLeBonBon

I've just changed my bedsheets. Putting new bedding on, I've just noticed the name of the inexpensive, plain white pillowcases I bough to cope with the fact that I have three teens who don't care if they mix and match.

Why the fuck are they called 'housewife pillowcases'?

In this day and age? Am I missing something?

Yes you are missing something. It's the name for a style of pillowcase. Pillowcases are Housewife or Oxford.

Does the concept of Gentleman's Relish upset you too?

Bloody knew it was Oxford. Didn't know about the Bolton Housewives' Co-op - nice story.

I think 'oxford' refers to a type of cloth, not that the style was invented by boffins.

I'm now wondering if in 1964 anyone was momentarily confused by the headline 'Oxford housewife wins Nobel Prize'.

@ErrolTheDragon

Why the fuck are they called 'housewife pillowcases'?

That may possibly have a more interesting answer than anticipated...

^ Throughout history, specifically during the 19th Century, pillowcases had a simple opening at the end which would make the pillow fall out of the case.
In the 1880s the “Housewives Co-operative” originating in Bolton adapted a standard pillowcase to include an inside flap at the end, this flap would keep the pillowcase in its place. They became known as “Housewife” pillowcases to honour them.^

(I can't find any background on what exactly the Housewives Cooperative was, so this may be an Internet myth)

And in the rest of europe and maybe the world: they actually put buttons on them :)

JFC really I know Covid has stopped a lot of activities, but you really do need to get out more

Buttons?? Intolerable. So lumpy in the middle of the night. The housewives have it.

@ErrolTheDragon

Fwiw when I lived in the US, I was surprised to find that pillowcases there didn't have the 'pocket', and a right pain they are too.

They are indeed a proper PITA (although good American percale almost makes up for that!) I have some cotton US ones which are much longer than standard UK pillows, & I did manage to improvise a kind of housewife flap by tucking both ends in on the same side of the pillow. I also have some Sheridan (Australian?) ones which have two flaps but that might just be because they have 2 different fabrics so you can always make the flap match the top.

Australia does housewife pillowcases (called huzziff) too. I think the reference is to the cleverness and efficiency of the tucked flap. No man would think of something so elegant and simple, is the implication. An Oxford pillowcase has a border all round and a bolster cover has two open ends.

The geometry of sewing a housewife pillowcase is fun. I use the same technique on cushion covers and just add poppers covered by decorative buttons.

My DSis apparently learned the words pillowcase and caterpillar on the same day and got them muddled, so she kept finding pillowcases in the garden and caterpillars in bed. 😊

What a great story of women getting together to make their lives better. I knew they were called housewife pillow cases, but I never knew why. I love how rich and textured history makes language.

A nice bit of social history there, and some canny northern women to boot, every days a school day

I've always loved the fact that the "Housewife" pillowcase was invented by a women's co-op. Fabulously straightforward, practical design, very economical with fabric.

Oxford pillow cases - what is the point of that annoying cloth border? Why?

Thanks for that story Errol. Round of applause for clever housewives!

So now pillowcases are sexist

I never liked the name but I do now.

I have Oxford covers on my square pillows that I use for sitting up because they look nicer. But agree they are a bit flappy on regular pillows

A hussif or housewife is also a small sewing kit. I got this from one of Patrick O’Brian’s novels along with a lot of the history of naval warfare.

Thanks for that Errol I love some inventive thinking.

When I was looking for info on this, it seems that the idea that 'housewife' being used for pillowcases is sexist and anachronistic is by no means a new idea - there are several newspaper columns discussing it over the years.

I'll take it as a positive that women who managed their own homes worked out a way to make their lives easier.

Necessity is the mother of invention; mothers (and housewives) are inventors by necessity

Oxford pillowcases are designed to force women to iron things. That sort of border is fine on furnishing fabric but too floppy for pillows and looks scruffy left unironed. Don't give them houseroom!

The best bedlinen is literal linen which will last a century or more, improving all the time, and is meant to look crumply. 😉

GiantKitten

but that might just be because they have 2 different fabrics so you can always make the flap match the top.

I fold the flap over the pillow but it's still inside the pillowcase so doesn't need to match anything. Have I been doing pillows wrong?

The history is pretty cool. Thanks for sharing it.

I’m not down for renaming traditional stuff because our sensibilities have changed. It’s a slippery slope towards newspeak. Better to be educated on (and amused by) the origins.

A mixture of oxford and housewife cases is fucking annoying though, because they don’t fold to the same dimensions for storage (I’m into the Marie Kondo method of folding things small and stacking horizontally)

Image from t’internet, not my own!

@TheFormerPorpentinaScamander

GiantKitten

but that might just be because they have 2 different fabrics so you can always make the flap match the top.

I fold the flap over the pillow but it's still inside the pillowcase so doesn't need to match anything. Have I been doing pillows wrong?

Depends how wide/fat your pillows are - sometimes some of the flap shows.