Ellen
Pollard Butterick said words to this effect to her husband around the
time of the American Civil War. She was attempting to sew a new shirt
for her son, but the paper pattern she was using to cut out all the
pieces she needed for the front, back, sleeves, and collar of the
shirt was a very different size than her son.


The
Buttericks' invention is said to have revolutionized home sewing!

In
1867, the Buttericks began publishing fashion magazines to promote
their patterns. By the “turn of the century” (when the 1800s
ended and the 1900s began), their magazine called The Delineator
was the most important fashion magazine in the U.S.
Boy,
when I was a kid, I used to love to pore over giant books of
Butterick pattern styles—with all the colorful illustrations of
lovely girls and women in fashion-forward clothes. As a matter of
fact, if I asked nicely, the women who worked at the fabric store
would save the pattern books for me when they became outdated and
replaced—they'd just tuck those books under the counter with a note
saying “Save for Cathy,” and I'd go pick them up for free! It was
like having a giant book of paper dolls, because I'd cut out my
favorite 50 or 100 illustrations to play with!
I
wonder if people still do that?
I
imagine that patterns don't sell nearly as much nowadays. Sewing your
own clothes used to be something almost everyone did, but now
inexpensive clothes—often sewn in other countries—make sewing the
much more expensive option.
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