The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine, by Rozsika Parker published in 1984. it examines how embroidery, an art performed originally by both sexes was crafted  into and formed notions of femininity and how it was also shaped by women who enabled the art to  present aspects of their identity

https://feministlibrary.co.uk/book-review-the-subversive-stitch-embroidery-and-the-making-of-the-feminine/

It argues that Victorians  cultivated  the myth that embroidery was performed by isolated nuns, whereas in fact women did participate in workrooms and there were examples of professional embroiderers running their own workshops

https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/people-and-functions/artists-designers-and-embroiderers/bury-st-edmunds-mabel-of

some examples of work done by women is discussed in these blogs

http://scribbling-inthemargins.blogspot.com/2017/02/medieval-female-embroiderers.html

https://www.kathryngauci.com/blog-28-29022016-opus-anglicanum-and-medieval-embroidery/

Best wishes

Heather Dawson

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