Paper Pattern (bodice piece), 1913
Pre-cut tissue paper pieces in multiple sizes were a big help to both home seamstresses and professional dressmakers. Notches and holes indicated pleats and where to match pieces: instructions were not printed on patterns until the 1920s. Then as now, adjustments might be needed to get a custom fit. These full-size individual (as opposed to overlapping, like Harper’s Bazar’s) patterns were first offered by Ellen Louise Curtis Demorest (known professionally as “Madame Demorest”) in 1854, but it was Ebenezer Butterick who launched the true revolution in the industry by offering patterns in different sizes in 1863. Initially offering boys’ garments (Butterick was a tailor by training), his success spurred him to introduce girls’ and women’s designs soon afterward.
The paper pattern industry took off rapidly starting in the 1870s, with numerous competing companies springing up. Despite the need for individual fitting adjustments, pre-cut, sized patterns–with a wide array of styles available each month by mail order or at a local dry goods or fabric store–made it easy for both professional and amateur seamstresses to keep up with the latest developments in fashion. Their democratizing effect in making up-to-date styles available to an ever-widening spectrum of society should not be underestimated. By the last third of the nineteenth century, many Americans lived far from fashion centers or towns of any notable size, or without a local dressmaker to consult. Improved transportation, the postal system, and cheaper paper and printing methods (including less expensive ways of including illustrations in magazines) all contributed to helping women even in less settled and more rural areas keep up with fashion.
Pictorial Review Pattern, loan Courtesy of Drs. K. & B. Bohleke