This thesis addresses the significant but often overlooked relationship between Jane Austen's works and the body of criticism about them and the two major craft movements of the nineteenth century: the Handicraft Movement and the Arts and Crafts Movement. The connections occur at two important moments during that century—first, at the moment of Austen's career during the Regency/Romantic period, and second, at the Victorian moment of the years surrounding the 1869 publication of James Edward Austen-Leigh's Memoir about Austen. In both of these moments, critics and reviewers repeatedly respond to Austen's life and works by using craft-related diction. This diction and the coetaneous nature of the craft and critical movements are indicative of the ongoing struggle throughout the nineteenth century to negotiate, eliminate, or redefine the art versus craft aesthetic binary. During the Regency moment, this negotiation begins to emerge in the heyday of the Handicraft Movement and its love for ornamentation. However, it is not until the years surrounding the publication of Austen-Leigh's Memoir that the interdisciplinary ideologies of craft and literary aesthetics burst forth. This period of overlap is short-lived, lasting approximately two decades. Nevertheless, by acknowledging its existence and examining its influence upon the Memoir and the criticism surrounding it, we can gain a greater appreciation for the aesthetic context in which the Memoir was published and for the image of Austen crafted by Victorian reviewers—an image that would ultimately become the literary inheritance of readers and scholars in the twentieth century.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the production of flemish weaving done by the handicraft association Malmöhus läns hemslöjdsförening between the years 1960 - 1975. The thesis examines a group of flemish weaves to answer questions about how they were made, which material were used and how they were designed during the period. This study is supplemented ny a study of annual reports, which describes the associations work during the period. This is to put the flemish weaves into a wide context where the purpose and function of the flemish weave are analysed. The study also aims to discuss the development and ideas in the association, and how thoes thoughts changes shaped the use of the flemish weaves in the association.  The result of this thesis shows how the production of flemish weaves during the period was influenced by variation and renewal. This is shown in the technical variation and a modernisation with abstract designs. The study has also shown the purpose of the weaves as products for mediation. In relation with the study of annual reports, the reports put the flemish weaves in a wider context as a popular technic for weaving courses in the association. In conclusion the results show a development, where new conditions and competition made the association strive for new products where "hemslöjd" was made into an important trademark.