Sewing circle

The term sewing circle usually refers to a group of people, usually women, who meet regularly for the purpose of sewing, often for charitable causes while chatting, gossiping, and/or discussing.
Application to sewing.
Sewing circle participants, usually women, typically meet regularly for the purpose of sewing. They often also support charitable causes while chatting, gossiping, and/or discussing.
For example, in ante-bellum America, local anti-slavery or missionary "sewing circles were complementary, not competing, organisations that allowed [women] to act on their concern for creating a more just and moral society". Other examples of sewing circles include the Fragment Society, the Mennonite Sewing Circle, and those organized by RMS "Titanic" survivor Emily Goldsmith aboard the rescue ship RMS "Carpathia": Goldsmith, "a talented seamstress, organized sewing circles to make garments out of cloth and blankets for those passengers dressed in nightclothes when they entered the lifeboats."
Apart from charitable purposes, contemporary sewing circles may be formed into organisations on a national level, such as the Guilds in Australia and America "for people who regard sewing as a creative and rewarding activity".
"Chew the rag".
It has been speculated that the phrase "chew the rag", is related to gossiping while working in a sewing circle.
Other uses.
Sewing circle is also a phrase used (by Marlene Dietrich, for instance) to describe the underground, closeted lesbian and bisexual film actresses and their relationships in Hollywood, United States, particularly during Hollywood's golden age from the 1910s to the 1950s. This usage was coined by the actress Alla Nazimova.