Harper's Weekly - Seamstresses Wanted Advertisement

This is an advertisement from Harper’s Weekly, looking for workers who know how to use sewing machines, or have a general knowledge of sewing. There were a few different clothing advertisements in this issue of Harper’s. They might have been placed there by coincidence, however, if we look at the other advertisements and Katie Lanning’s article on “tesselated texts,” we can make a pretty legitimate assumption that these advertisements were strategically placed where they are. 

Can these advertisements be read as “tessellated”  with The Moonstone? How does clothing relate to The Moonstone? How important can clothing be in The Moonstone? Extremely, as in this instalment, while Franklin Blake and Betteredege are trying to solve the crime of the Moonstone, they end with finding the thief’s nightgown- Franklin’s nightgown. In the illustrations of this part of The Moonstone, the objects that stand out the most, besides the people, are the articles of clothing. In the first illustration, Franklin is realizes that it was in fact his nightgown with the paint smear. In the second illustration, there is a shirt randomly hanging up in the background. Where would a reader previously have seen pieces of clothing as prominent as in this story? That’s right, in the advertisements.