The History of Paper Sewing Patterns - An Overview

These days we take sewing patterns for granted. We go to a store, find the style and size that we want and go home and sew. We may need to make a few alterations but overall, the pattern companies have us covered. It wasn't always that easy. 

The paper pattern industry in the United States began in 1860. The first to sell their patterns were William Jennings Demorest and his wife, Ellen Louise Demorest. They would hold fashion shows in their home and sell the sewing patterns to the attendees. This was the start of mme Demorests' Emporium of Fashion and the magazine The mirror of Fashion. The magazine listed hundreds of patterns, unfortunately they were available only in one size. The home seamstress would need to grade the pattern to her correct size herself. 



Then along came Ebenezer Butterick. The Butterick Company was started in 1863. The Butterick 
family created patterns for children's clothing on heavy cardboard templates in several standard sizes. It was a true family business! Members of the family would cut and fold the patterns at their home in Massachusetts. In 1866 patterns for women were added as well as a few for men. Sales were booming! The magazine The Delineator was launched in 1873 to publicize the company and sell the patterns. Patterns were plain tissue paper cut to the shape and size of the garment, folded and pinned together with a label with instructions and an image of the garment. It wasn't until the early 1900's that the patterns were put into envelopes. 
The Butterick Company quickly outgrew the family home and workforce and moved to New York City. 

The 1920's Deltor Pattern by Butterick. The new format now had an  envelope and instructions printed on a separate sheet - called the Deltor (Delineator)

Butterick 1586 RetroMonkeys

The rest of the "Big Three" evolved in the early 1900's as well. McCall - the only company that consistently printed the copyright dates on the envelopes, Simplicity, who also produced DuBarry for F.W. Woolworth, and last but not least, Vogue by Conde Nast. 

Part Two will focus on Butterick's history. 

The History of Paper Sewing Patterns Part Deux

On a snowy day in Sterling, Massachusetts in 1863, Ellen Butterick sat at the kitchen table to draw a pattern on to some gingham for her son Howard. She sketched the cutting lines with her wax chalk. That evening she mentioned to her husband how nice it would be to be able to get a pattern in the size that she needed instead of the one size that patterns came in.

Her husband Ebenezer, a tailor by trade, was intrigued by his wife's idea. He began playing with the idea. He made heavy cardboard templates in several different sizes. The problem - the heavy cardboard would be difficult to package for sale. After trying many types of paper, Ebenezer Butterick settled on tissue paper. It was easy to work with and the ideal material for folding and packaging.

In the beginning, the patterns were cut and folded by members of the Butterick family. They sold the patterns from their home in Sterling. The business grew and soon they had outgrown their home. They purchased the house next door but soon they had outgrown that space. They moved to a larger home Fitchburg, Massachusetts and soon after moved the business to 192 Broadway, New York, New York.

192 Broadway NY, NY

In 1866 Butterick expanded it's pattern line from men and boys to include women's dresses and skirts, capes and jackets. This was met with much enthusiasm from his customers. Butterick produced these in 13 sizes, skirts in 5 sizes.

As the demand for graded patterns increased, Butterick started publishing Ladies Quarterly of Broadway Fashions, a year later in 1868 they added the monthly publication Metropolitan. Both of the publications were a showcase for the Butterick patterns as well as fashion trends. These magazines made it possible for ladies worldwide to purchase Butterick patterns from their homes by mail. This expanded the market greatly as remote locations hadn't had an opportunity to buy patterns before.

In 1873, the Delineator was introduced to market Butterick patterns.

Wikipedia

In no time it had expanded into a general interest women's magazine. By 1900 the Delineator had become the finest women's fashion magazine. The vintage issues that are still available are considered to be highly collectible today.

Toward the close of the 1800's, Butterick & Co. had grown to include 100 branch offices. They had also expanded to include offices in Paris, London, Vienna, and Berlin. More patterns were sold in Paris than in any other location worldwide.

With the immense growth of the business, Butterick designed and built the Spring Street building in 1903. The building was 16 stories with huge skylights that were two stories higher, the tallest structure in the Manhattan area. Butterick became the largest publisher in the United States with the U.S. government being the only exception.

G G Archives

In 1904 Butterick received close to 30,000 letters from readers and consumers with ideas, questions, and suggestions. It became evident that the company needed to have a department to field all of the correspondence. This service continues even today through the website.

In the 20th century, the Delineator provided so much more than patterns and fashion articles. Women came to rely on it for homekeeping tips, universities, as well as professions.

With the event of World War I, the textile and fashion industries in Europe were halted. New York became the fashion center for the world.

In the 20's Butterick introduced a new instruction sheet that was much larger and had better images. They called it "The Deltor" taken from the word Delineator. Customers loved it and sales boomed! As the 1920's was coming to a close, the economy took a nose dive. . With families on a tighter budget, sewing at home became even more popular and again and women flocked to Butterick for their high fashions. When the market crashed in 1929 Butterick took a loss just like everyone else.  However, the employees pulled together and by working as a team, kept the pattern business growing even during the worst of times. In a fairly short amount of time, Butterick was quickly on the path for more growth. They continued to grow by leaps

Pattern Playing

and bounds in the 1930's and into the 40's.

MrsDepew

In 1941 President Roosevelt declared war and all resources were committed to the war effort. Rationing of textiles was introduced and Butterick negotiated with the government to make it a reasonable compromise. With Ready to wear clothing unavailable, paper patterns again soared.

Sewing has had it's ups and downs over the years. Currently there is an upswing in the popularity of home sewing and fashion design. What's next? 3-D printing is going to change the face of design. New collars, cuffs, you name it you'll be able to create it!

Visit Etsy.com - Pattern Patter  or one of the shops above to find the perfect vintage sewing pattern.

Patterns to the right can be found on Butterick.com