Customs and traditions
In many parts of the world a girl’s dowry, or the property and money that she and her family bring to a marriage, played an important role in the history of embroidery. Basically a dowry is the transfer of parental property and/or money to a daughter on her marriage. It is usually given to her husband or his family, but in many cultures the dowry remains the property of the woman to whom it is given.
Pin money is an English term that refers, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, to a small or insignificant sum of money (‘spending money’), to be used for trivial purchases. It formerly referred to money a husband or guardian gave to a woman annually for her personal (dress) expenses (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary).