Growing up in the 60s (that’s the 1960s!), there weren’t nearly as many clothing choices as we have today. So, when my Aunt Mary offered to teach me how to make my clothes, I jumped at the chance!

(Aunt Mary in light pink dress with her mother, sisters and sisters-in-law)

One of the surprises that awaited me was the choice of folded tissue paper patterns that I could choose. Looking back on it now, I’m not sure how I imagined clothing was made. But from those early sewing lessons, I continued making clothes throughout high school, college, and even into my early years of marriage and motherhood.

Fast forward to the present…when author Elaine Manders opened up spots in her Westward Hearts and Homes Matrimonial series, I quickly signed on as I’ve never done a mail-order bride romance.

While creating a profile for my heroine, Olivia Glennon, I came across a post about Irish women who came to America. They’d become maids, servants, laundresses, etc. However, I wanted to make Olivia something a bit more…modern. Giving her an occupation not only as a seamstress but as a pattern maker would add another layer to her profile.

Since the matrimonial agency was headquartered in Boston, I searched the Internet for pattern-making companies in the 1800s…enter Ebenezer Butterick.

Home sewing had just begun to proliferate with the introduction of the sewing machine in the mid-1800s. Around the same time, women’s magazines were gaining in popularity and many of them printed patterns, increasing the average woman’s access to stylish garments. However, these early patterns and illustrations were printed on small magazine pages and were difficult to use. By the 1850s, Godey’s Lady’s Book printed full-sized patterns, but in only one size, with no scale measurements for enlarging giving the reader no choice but to size the patterns to her own figure.

During the Civil War era, tailor Ebenezer Butterick experimented with the idea of graded patterns and discovered that tissue paper was ideal to work with and much easier to package than the heavy cardboard templates he first created.

The first graded sewing patterns were cut and folded by members of the Butterick family and sold from their home. In no time they needed extra space and expanded, first into an adjoining house and then to a larger house outside of Boston. In the next year, they established a second branch in New York City. Butterick first specialized in men’s and boys’ clothing but in 1866 began to manufacture dress patterns. Soon the women’s line included dresses, jackets, and capes in 13 sizes and skirts in five sizes. By 1873 Butterick was selling some six million patterns a year, at 25 cents each.

Corporate headquarters were moved in 1903 to the new 16-story Butterick Building in what is now known as Manhattan’s Soho district. Butterick was now one of the largest manufacturing concerns in the industry, and the building, constructed expressly for the firm, featured interiors designed by Louis Tiffany. Here, new styles were made up in muslins, and inspected for appearance, practicality, and suitability to the customers. After the season’s styles had been chosen, patterns were created, graded into sizes, printed on tissue papers, and cut, folded, and inserted into envelopes, complete with instruction sheets. These patterns sold for ten or 15 cents each.

Soon, other companies developed their line of women’s clothing patterns—which gave the American woman some options for clothing. Harper’s Bazar (later Harper’s Bazaar) offered pattern sheets printed on both sides of the paper. Shapes had to be traced for use. Begun with one-sized patterns in 1867, Harper’s offered individually cut paper patterns in 1870.

Glasgow tailor James McCall emigrated to New York in 1869 to work for Wheeler and Wilson’s Elliptic Sewing Machines and went on to publish a Catalog of the Bazar Paper Patterns. Despite the similarity of the names, McCall had nothing to do with Harper’s. McCall then published a fashion periodical called The Queen of Fashion in 1891 which became McCall’s in 1897.

By the late 19th century, tissue paper patterns became common. Holes and various shapes indicated the placement of darts and pleats while cut notches showed where to join cut fabric pieces.

In 1927, Joseph Shapiro established the Simplicity Pattern Company, which created the reproduced patterns that were affordable for the average household. Most patterns on the market sold from between 25 cents to $1.00, depending on the type of garment. Around the same, Vogue introduced Hollywood Patterns—which sold for 15 cents each—and capitalized on women’s desires to look like Silver Screen stars.

As the railroads increased the speed of transport, it became easier to order patterns from magazines and catalogs. The introduction of money orders made it simple and safe to order products by mail. The pattern business took off in a big way.

Pattern companies began to offer patterns in general magazines like Farm Journal and newspapers hoping to sell to rural and lower-income women, giving these women the chance to dress in current fashion without having to shop at a major department store.

Though home sewing with paper patterns may never gain widespread popularity as it once had, there is a resurgence of at-home sewing encouraging individual style over trends.

Did you or someone you know ever use a paper tissue pattern to make clothing?