Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly
Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and we are still
Speaker 1: talking about paper sewing patterns this week. Little did you
Speaker 1: know this could possibly be two episodes worth of information. Honestly,
Speaker 1: this could be a whole podcast series. Yeah, I was
Speaker 1: gonna say, I bet it could be a whole series
Speaker 1: if we wanted. Yeah, easily. I felt bad every time
Speaker 1: I cut something. And there's one in particular that we
Speaker 1: don't mention it all, and I will explain why I'm
Speaker 1: behind the scenes. Yeah. And we sat in part one
Speaker 1: that this is really a focus on like Europe and
Speaker 1: North America, and it became a global thing. It could
Speaker 1: be like ten podcasts series forget it, see you next year,
Speaker 1: and people would be like, I don't sew, I'm not
Speaker 1: in for this. But here we are. At the end
Speaker 1: of part one, we had mentioned, after talking about various
Speaker 1: tailoring and some sewing books that had come out, that
Speaker 1: there were two people that really kicked off the industry
Speaker 1: of printed patterns in the US and made them super popular,
Speaker 1: and those were Ellen Curtis Demorist and Ebenezer Butterick. So
Speaker 1: today we are going to talk about those two people
Speaker 1: as well as the development of the other companies that
Speaker 1: make up the so called Big four pattern companies, Butterick, McCall's,
Speaker 1: Vogue and Simplicity. Ellen Louise Curtis was born on November fifteenth,
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty four, in Skylerville, New York. She went to
Speaker 1: Skylerville Academy as a teenager, and when she graduated at
Speaker 1: the age of eighteen, she immediately went into business as
Speaker 1: a milliner with her own shop. She worked in millinery
Speaker 1: for about fifteen years and then got married in her
Speaker 1: mid thirties to a man named William Demorist. So Ellen's
Speaker 1: entree into pattern printing is often described as her envisioning
Speaker 1: a product that could fill the gap in the home
Speaker 1: sewing market series of patterns that were offered in multiple
Speaker 1: sizes and were mass produced, not custom measured for each client,
Speaker 1: and that her husband, William was on board, and that
Speaker 1: they launched this new business venture together. That doesn't seem
Speaker 1: to be entirely accurate, though there was another Missus Demrist
Speaker 1: before Ellen, and that was Margaret Demorist. William's first wife,
Speaker 1: and she was billed as Missus Demorist in pattern ads
Speaker 1: and women's magazines in the mid eighteen fifties. One from
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty three that ran in The New York Times
Speaker 1: touted sewing lessons as well as quote patterns of plane
Speaker 1: and basque wastes cut to fit the form with unfailing accuracy,
Speaker 1: and elegant dress patterns cut at eighteen and a half cents.
Speaker 1: William had hired Ellen and her sister Kate to actually
Speaker 1: design and produce the patterns, while Margaret was the public
Speaker 1: face of the brand. Initially. Margaret Demors died in eighteen
Speaker 1: fifty nine, the year before Ellie and William married, and
Speaker 1: once Ellen assumed the role of Missus Demrist both domestically
Speaker 1: and professionally, the pattern company, which pad and modest success
Speaker 1: in the eighteen fifties, really started to take off. In
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty, the two of them opened a shop on
Speaker 1: Broadway in Manhattan called Madam Demorest's Emporium of Fashions. The
Speaker 1: patterns that they sold were not just functional for sewing,
Speaker 1: they were also works of art. Dressmakers shops that used
Speaker 1: the patterns could also assemble the pattern itself with pins,
Speaker 1: and have a display piece for their window. Because the
Speaker 1: Demorists printed their patterns on colored paper, customers could even
Speaker 1: get trims for their assembled paper patterns. But the Demorists
Speaker 1: had a much bigger vision than just opening a shop
Speaker 1: from which to sell patterns. They envisioned an entire brand
Speaker 1: that people would associate with style and dressmaking. To expand
Speaker 1: their business identity, they also started a periodical, Madam Demorrist's
Speaker 1: Mirror of Fashions, which William basically ran in terms of
Speaker 1: the editorial while Ellen managed the shop and the new
Speaker 1: designs and The magazine, which ran for nearly thirty years,
Speaker 1: published color plates of the latest fashion trends, and it
Speaker 1: also included full sized patterns. These were not part of
Speaker 1: the page content of the magazine. They were a separate
Speaker 1: insert that was stapled into the magazine itself for easy
Speaker 1: removal and use. The Demorists also still offered the patterns
Speaker 1: as separate products. Customers didn't need to purchase the magazine
Speaker 1: if they didn't want to, they could just select from
Speaker 1: the various pattern offerings. This was the first of many
Speaker 1: products the Demorists eventually offered through both mail order and
Speaker 1: via retailer distribution. Over time, their products included branded sewing
Speaker 1: notions like pins, scissors, and measuring implements, and even foundation
Speaker 1: garments to get the perfect base layer for the new
Speaker 1: dresses customers were stitches. The Demorrists also expanded into cosmetics
Speaker 1: to offer a full fashion and beauty brand. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: also kind of franchised, like there were multiple Demorist shops
Speaker 1: that opened up that were run by other people, and
Speaker 1: they were very successful in all of this. By eighteen
Speaker 1: sixty four, just four years into their venture together, they
Speaker 1: had to expand their quarterly magazine to a monthly which
Speaker 1: was called Demorists Illustrated Monthly Magazine and Madame demeris Mirror
Speaker 1: of Fashions. It was kind of two magazines, but they
Speaker 1: were all put together into one and that was all
Speaker 1: one title for him, and the magazine, of course touted
Speaker 1: their patterns on the first page in a huge ad.
Speaker 1: For example, the April eighteen sixty five ad read life
Speaker 1: sized paper models of all the reliable and latest Paris
Speaker 1: designs for ladies and children's dress, arranged and elegantly trimmed
Speaker 1: so as to present the most perfect resemblance to the
Speaker 1: original articles, including Evening Home Bridle or fancy dresses, also cloaks, mantles, waists, jackets, sleeves,
Speaker 1: apron sacks, capes, robes de chambre, undergarments, etc. And every
Speaker 1: style of garment adapted to boys and misses and infants
Speaker 1: that has any claim for either novelty or utility, all
Speaker 1: accurately reproduced in tissue paper as soon as they are
Speaker 1: offered in either Paris or London to secure which we
Speaker 1: have completed ample and costly arrangements. Patterns sent by mail
Speaker 1: or express to all parts of the Union. In Canada,
Speaker 1: Madame Demorrist's excelsior and always first premium system of dress cutting.
Speaker 1: The rest of the magazine included articles about the latest
Speaker 1: fashions and accessories, such as Paisley Shawl's being a good investment,
Speaker 1: small pieces of sheet music so readers could learn a
Speaker 1: new song, sequential art stories, fiction stories and essays, and
Speaker 1: commentary on fashion related news that included the ball for
Speaker 1: President Lincoln's second inauguration, of which the magazine noted quote
Speaker 1: the arrangements for a brilliant opening of mister Lincoln's second
Speaker 1: term were made with great liberality and were entirely successful.
Speaker 1: Nothing could exceed the imposing grandeur of the spectacle which
Speaker 1: the Great Hall of the Patent Office presented when the
Speaker 1: Auguste assemblage composed of the President and his lady, the
Speaker 1: foreign ministers with their wives, the heads of departments, and
Speaker 1: five thousand of the most distinguished people from different parts
Speaker 1: of the country was complete. The clothes were, of course,
Speaker 1: also noted in this ride up quote. The toilettes were,
Speaker 1: many of them magnificent. Missus Lincoln's consisted of white satin
Speaker 1: with an elegant white lace flounce festooned at the side
Speaker 1: with heavy white silk cord and tassels. A bertha of
Speaker 1: point lace ornamented the low neck, and a costly point
Speaker 1: lace shawl covered her shoulders. Her hair was worn in
Speaker 1: curls and adorned with white and purple flowers, pearl necklace,
Speaker 1: and ornaments, bouquet and violets. In the early eighties teen seventies,
Speaker 1: the magazine began touting the latest demorist innovation patterns in
Speaker 1: sizes other than an average slash medium, and it also
Speaker 1: developed really smart ways to integrate pattern sales with fashion
Speaker 1: and society news and information. An editorial package about cruises,
Speaker 1: for example, would include information on how to book them
Speaker 1: and where types of excursions that one might go on,
Speaker 1: and then suggest the patterns that would enable the reader
Speaker 1: to prepare the perfect wardrobe for such a trip. The
Speaker 1: Demorst brand assured women who stitched their own garments that
Speaker 1: their patterns would enable them to create clothing as stylish
Speaker 1: as people in higher income brackets. Not entirely germane to
Speaker 1: the topic of patterns, but worth mentioning the way that
Speaker 1: Ellen Demerist ran her business was quite progressive. She made
Speaker 1: working women one of her personal causes, and she walked
Speaker 1: that walk. Her business employed a lot of women, and
Speaker 1: that included black women. She also reportedly hired black employees
Speaker 1: under the same employment terms and pay rates as white employees.
Speaker 1: She talked about the importance of recognizing women as part
Speaker 1: of the workforce publicly. In November of eighteen sixty three,
Speaker 1: she wrote a long and rather sharp reply to the
Speaker 1: editor of The New York Times for an article that
Speaker 1: had been published about women in the workforce. Her reply
Speaker 1: began quote, inasmuch as you are not a woman and
Speaker 1: do not to any extent employ women, allow one who
Speaker 1: is and who does to reply to yesterday's article headed
Speaker 1: Women's work and their Struggle for better compensation. The whole article,
Speaker 1: because of being based on false premises, will bear an
Speaker 1: absolute reversion. She then picks apart the entire article point
Speaker 1: by point, noting, among other things, that the original article
Speaker 1: failed to take into account, the fact that women are
Speaker 1: expected to raise children and that it's one of the
Speaker 1: reasons women weren't often seen in careers. Demerist was involved
Speaker 1: over the years and a lot of women's causes, and
Speaker 1: the magazine often gave space to women writers to share
Speaker 1: opinions on women's issues. Yeah, people like Luisa may Alcott
Speaker 1: contributed to the magazine all the time. The eighteen seventy
Speaker 1: six Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia featured two paper dress pattern exhibits.
Speaker 1: One of those was set up by the Madame Demerist Company.
Speaker 1: The other display was the work of Ebenezer Butterick. And
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about Butterick and his company after
Speaker 1: we pause for a sponsor break. Ebenezer Butterick was born
Speaker 1: in Sterling, Massachusetts, on May twenty ninth, eighteen twenty six.
Speaker 1: He apprenticed as a tailor starting at an early age,
Speaker 1: and then he opened his own business as a merchant tailor.
Speaker 1: So that's a tailor who makes clothes but also manages
Speaker 1: an inventory of fabric that is used for the clothes
Speaker 1: but is also offered at retail. He is frequently described
Speaker 1: as having been kind of a mediocre as a tailor
Speaker 1: and not having a lot of success in that business.
Speaker 1: But then, in eighteen sixty three, Butterick, working with his
Speaker 1: wife Ellen Augusta Butterick, Yes there are two Ellens in
Speaker 1: this story, he did two things. He started offering standardized
Speaker 1: tissue paper patterns in multiple sizes, and he established a
Speaker 1: factory to print them in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. This was a
Speaker 1: lot more lucrative than his tailoring business had been, and
Speaker 1: he saw its potential. Butterick also had the foresight to
Speaker 1: do something the demorists had not. He patented his patterns. Initially,
Speaker 1: most of his patterns were for men and boys clothes,
Speaker 1: and he also started a periodical, although his was not
Speaker 1: a frequent one. That was the Semi Annual Report of
Speaker 1: Gents Fashions, which debuted in eighteen sixty five. He offered
Speaker 1: individual patterns for twenty five to fifty cents, but you
Speaker 1: could also make a bulk purchase of fifty patterns for
Speaker 1: five dollars. The next year he added graded size designs
Speaker 1: for women and girls, and that was when things really
Speaker 1: took off. He also started another periodical, Ladies, quarterly report
Speaker 1: of Broadway fashions. His women's patterns were usually four component
Speaker 1: pieces of a garment and not a full dress, for example,
Speaker 1: so rather than an entire dress, a customer could purchase
Speaker 1: a bodice and a skirt separately and then combine them
Speaker 1: into a dress. One of the reasons his offerings became
Speaker 1: so popular so quickly was that he offered what was
Speaker 1: at the time an extremely wide size range. It was
Speaker 1: graded to fit bus lines from twenty eight inches to
Speaker 1: forty six inches. Butterick also innovated in the way that
Speaker 1: patterns were packaged. The Butterick Company folded the tissue patterns
Speaker 1: so they would fit snugly into a packet envelope that
Speaker 1: had that envelope flap closure, and soon that became the
Speaker 1: industry standard. By the end of the eighteen sixties, Butterick
Speaker 1: moved his pattern printing operation to a new factory location
Speaker 1: in Brooklyn, New York, and he revamped his magazine of
Speaker 1: women's fashions, calling it Metropolitan and publishing it monthly like
Speaker 1: Demorist's magazine. This was part style information and part self advertising,
Speaker 1: but Butterick also used it to bolster his reputation through
Speaker 1: what was almost certainly false reporting of his company's success.
Speaker 1: For example, he claimed that he sold more than fifteen
Speaker 1: hundred patterns every day, which historians have dismissed as highly unlikely. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a lot. In that same nineteen seventy nine paper
Speaker 1: we mentioned in the first part of this two parter
Speaker 1: by historian Margaret Walsh, titled the Democratization of Fashion The
Speaker 1: Emergence of the Women's Dress pattern Industry, Walsh notes how
Speaker 1: this exhibit at the Exposition was a touchstone of a
Speaker 1: massive change in a way that it changed fashion for
Speaker 1: a wider array of people than would have had access
Speaker 1: to such things prior quote. At mid century, fashion both
Speaker 1: as an indicator of financial strength and social rank and
Speaker 1: as an expression of femininity had been the prerogative of
Speaker 1: the rich. Only the wealthy could afford to change their
Speaker 1: styles of dress frequently. But now, thanks to the mass
Speaker 1: production of paper patterns, American women in their European counterparts
Speaker 1: were able to participate in a new social experience of
Speaker 1: making stylish clothes at will. Eighteen seventy six was a
Speaker 1: big year for the Demorists. Their company had the biggest
Speaker 1: year it would ever have on the books. They sold
Speaker 1: three million patterns that year, but after that things leveled
Speaker 1: off for them, even though they won several awards at
Speaker 1: the expo. Conversely, Butterick saw growth. In eighteen eighty one,
Speaker 1: Ebenezer Butterick founded the Butterick Publishing Company, an international iteration
Speaker 1: of his already very busy business. Already between the two companies'
Speaker 1: trajectories is sometimes attributed to the fact that the Demorists
Speaker 1: didn't copyright their designs, so soon the same products were
Speaker 1: available elsewhere whereas Butterick had his protected. But the market
Speaker 1: had also had a lot of newcomers who saw the
Speaker 1: success of the Demorists and Butterick brands and also wanted
Speaker 1: to offer patterns to home soists. Another big factor that
Speaker 1: differentiated the two was that the Demorists, in trying to
Speaker 1: create an entire brand, had kind of over diversified. They
Speaker 1: weren't associated just with patterns, Butterick was. Butterick's patterns also
Speaker 1: offered more instructions than Demorists. But the big big thing
Speaker 1: was that Butterick had started his own printing facility to
Speaker 1: turn out patterns. He could do it fast, and he
Speaker 1: could do it in large quantities. The Demorists and other
Speaker 1: competitors on the market just didn't have that level of
Speaker 1: ownership of the manufacturing and that hurt them. One of
Speaker 1: the other competitors who started offering patterns as Butterick and
Speaker 1: Demorist were showing that it was a very viable business
Speaker 1: was James McCall. This one is a little bit frustrating
Speaker 1: in terms of the history because information on McCall is
Speaker 1: actually pretty sparse. We know he was a Scottish born
Speaker 1: tailor who moved to New York from Glasgow in eighteen
Speaker 1: sixty nine, and he worked in the sewing trade in
Speaker 1: New York, first for a British company called Royal Chart
Speaker 1: that sold a pattern drafting system, and then he worked
Speaker 1: for a sewing machine company. When he went into the
Speaker 1: pattern business for himself, he too had an accompanying periodical
Speaker 1: that was called Catalog of the Bizarre Paper Patterns. He
Speaker 1: was purposely trying to gain momentum by making people think
Speaker 1: this might be an offering affiliated with Harper's Bizarre magazine,
Speaker 1: which had grown popular as a fashion publication. By then
Speaker 1: he next moved on to a new name, The Queen,
Speaker 1: though it was subtitled once again with the word bizarre
Speaker 1: as illustrating McCall's bizarre glove fitting patterns. He was, to
Speaker 1: be clear, absolutely not the only person doing this. There
Speaker 1: were a lot of magazines and pattern catalogs with the
Speaker 1: word bizar somewhere in the title, trying to trade on
Speaker 1: the Harper's Bizarre popularity. But then finally in eighteen ninety seven,
Speaker 1: it just became McCall's magazine. We mentioned in the first
Speaker 1: part of this episode that most of these patterns being
Speaker 1: distributed were actually blocks or slopers. They didn't include a
Speaker 1: seam allowance. In nineteen nineteen, McCall's took the step to
Speaker 1: start printing all of the company's patterns with seam allowance included.
Speaker 1: The stitching line was denoted with a dotted line on
Speaker 1: the pattern, and the cutting line was a solid line.
Speaker 1: McCall died sometime at the end of the nineteenth century.
Speaker 1: The details are a little unclear, and at that point
Speaker 1: his wife, who was only named in accounts as Missus McCall,
Speaker 1: ran the company until she sold it to a banking group.
Speaker 1: Next up, was Vogue Patterns, which started in eighteen ninety nine.
Speaker 1: Unlike other pattern companies who offered magazines to grow their
Speaker 1: names in businesses, Vogue Magazine predated the Pattern company that
Speaker 1: started in eighteen ninety three, and the pattern branch of
Speaker 1: Vogue's business began as a mail away service that was
Speaker 1: part of Vogue Magazine. A mail in coupon was printed
Speaker 1: in the magazine that readers could fill out and mail
Speaker 1: in along with fifty cents, and then they would get
Speaker 1: a pattern back so that they could make one of
Speaker 1: the latest fashions featured in that magazine. But in eighteen
Speaker 1: ninety nine, the Patterns became its own division, with a
Speaker 1: range of patterns available for direct order. The year that
Speaker 1: Vogue Pattern Service launched, Ebenezer Butterick stepped away from his
Speaker 1: work in the company that bore his name. His health
Speaker 1: had declined, and he returned home to Stirling, Massachusetts to
Speaker 1: live out the remaining years of his life. He died
Speaker 1: in March of nineteen oh three, but the company continued.
Speaker 1: Vogue was purchased by Conde Nast that's the person, not
Speaker 1: the company. The company is named after him in nineteen
Speaker 1: oh nine, and five years after that. In nineteen fourteen,
Speaker 1: the company sort of relaunched Vogue Patterns, this time as
Speaker 1: a standalone business which was Vogue Pattern Company. Vogue Patterns
Speaker 1: saw rapid success, and it was the first company that
Speaker 1: had widespread department store distribution. In the mail away version
Speaker 1: of the company. Vogue had been the first to license
Speaker 1: designs from European designers, so women everywhere could make their
Speaker 1: own versions of designer clothes using designer patterns, and this
Speaker 1: is actually something that has continued through the current times.
Speaker 1: Other pattern companies have done this, but Vogue has been
Speaker 1: associated with it throughout. We'll talk about a newcomer to
Speaker 1: the pattern game after we hear from some of our sponsors.
Speaker 1: The nineteen twenties were very busy for pattern companies. It
Speaker 1: was in the nineteen twenties that pattern envelopes started getting
Speaker 1: full color illustrations of the fashions that you could make
Speaker 1: with the contents. This was another innovation that McCall's spearheaded,
Speaker 1: but within a decade all pattern companies had adopted the practice.
Speaker 1: As designer fashion became more and more prominent in the
Speaker 1: Roaring twenties, McCall's embraced it by working with high profile
Speaker 1: designers like Elsa Scaparelli and Jean Levan to create licensed patterns,
Speaker 1: and the last of the Big Four, Simplicity Patterns, was
Speaker 1: founded in nineteen twenty seven. Joseph M. Shapiro was born
Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty eight in Borisov, Russia, and had moved
Speaker 1: to the United States in nineteen twelve. He had a
Speaker 1: number of jobs over the years, but he was working
Speaker 1: for a fashion trade magazine when he decided to launch
Speaker 1: the company based on his opinion that dress patterns cost
Speaker 1: too much. At the time, the cost of a sewing
Speaker 1: pattern ranged from forty five cents to two dollars. Simplicity
Speaker 1: came into the market with a goal of aiming for
Speaker 1: the business of lower income soists Simplicity patterns were only
Speaker 1: fifteen cents. This idea of making sewing as economical as
Speaker 1: possible would drive a lot of the company's initiatives after this,
Speaker 1: Shapiro later told an interview quote, what's the tendency of
Speaker 1: the American people in everything and architecture and eating and living.
Speaker 1: I asked myself, it's simplicity. So I was pretty sure
Speaker 1: cheap patterns would go. But I made one mistake. Ten
Speaker 1: cents was too cheap. No one would believe they could
Speaker 1: be any good at that price, so I raised it
Speaker 1: to fifteen cents, and they began selling like hotcakes. Simplicity's
Speaker 1: timing entering into the market was fortuitous. When the Great
Speaker 1: Depression hit in the United States, more people than ever
Speaker 1: turned to swing their own clothing, and because Simplicity's price
Speaker 1: point was the lowest, the popularity really soared. Joseph's wife,
Speaker 1: Caroline Hutchins Shapiro, is super important to this story. She
Speaker 1: was a home economist and she had a tremendous influence
Speaker 1: on the company's offerings and ethics. Because she specialized in
Speaker 1: home ech and Simplicity had been founded with the vision
Speaker 1: to empower stitchers at all economic levels. She spearheaded a
Speaker 1: new division of the company, the Education Department. This department
Speaker 1: worked with the public school system to assist with home
Speaker 1: economics curricula, and even had company reps who would travel
Speaker 1: to visit schools regularly. This was great in terms of
Speaker 1: helping educators, but it was also really savvy and that
Speaker 1: it meant that the next generation of soists and thus
Speaker 1: customers was always getting support from Simplicity. So if you're
Speaker 1: one of those people who took homech in school and
Speaker 1: had a sewing project like an apron or a basic
Speaker 1: garment as well part of your school work. That is
Speaker 1: thanks in part to the materials that the Simplicity Education
Speaker 1: Department provided schools with in its early years, setting the
Speaker 1: tone for home at curricula for decades. Caroline Shapiro stayed
Speaker 1: with the company until the late nineteen sixties, when she
Speaker 1: retired after working for Simplicity for more than thirty years.
Speaker 1: In the nineteen forties, Simplicity started offering patterns that had
Speaker 1: been designed to use as little fabric as possible. There
Speaker 1: were also tips included for using the fabric from existing
Speaker 1: garments to make something new. According to a stat on
Speaker 1: Simplicity's website, the war years were a boon for home
Speaker 1: sewing as everybody was trying to economize. Before the start
Speaker 1: of World War II, an estimated fifty percent of women
Speaker 1: in the US sewed, but by the end of the
Speaker 1: war it was more than eighty percent. Simplicity was not
Speaker 1: the only patterned company to meet the country's economic challenges
Speaker 1: with simpler designs that required less fabric. Vogue also shifted
Speaker 1: its design as slimmer silhouettes became more realistic for the
Speaker 1: finances of soists when the country's financial picture grew brighter
Speaker 1: in the nineteen fifties, though, Vogue was quick to launch
Speaker 1: new couture campaigns, including a line developed in collaboration with
Speaker 1: Christian Dior. Yeah, that's the point where you get that
Speaker 1: so called new look that he was coming up with,
Speaker 1: which was like a very fitted, nipped in waiste with
Speaker 1: a huge skirt that was very voluminous to create a
Speaker 1: really sharp silhouette. And those skirts take a lot of
Speaker 1: yardage to make that beauty. So they quickly shifted gears.
Speaker 1: But that ongoing effort to appeal to a wider audience
Speaker 1: of economic levels really paid off for Simplicity. By the
Speaker 1: late nineteen fifties, the company had offices around the world
Speaker 1: and patterns were sold in five dozen countries. The company
Speaker 1: built on that success in the early nineteen sixties by
Speaker 1: launching the Jiffy line of patterns, and this line was
Speaker 1: designed to be approachable in every way. It was inexpensive,
Speaker 1: relatively easy to sew, with few pieces to cut out,
Speaker 1: and generally Jiffy patterns had low yardage requirements. With Simplicity's
Speaker 1: star on the rise, Butterick made a move to stay
Speaker 1: relevant in nineteen sixty one when it purchased the Vogue
Speaker 1: Patterns license. Vogue was and still is the pattern company
Speaker 1: most associated with high fashion designs, so this was an
Speaker 1: interesting move for Butterick to make. It sent a message
Speaker 1: that the company wasn't competing with simplicity, but was going
Speaker 1: after different soists, that being the ones with more money.
Speaker 1: This was emphasized when the company launched pattern lines like
Speaker 1: Vogue Paris Original, Vogue Designer Original, and Vogue Couturier Design
Speaker 1: and its continued efforts to establish and maintain relationships with
Speaker 1: fashion designers like Dan von Furstenberg, Donna Karen and Issimiaki.
Speaker 1: Another pattern company and he emerged in the nineteen sixties
Speaker 1: that was Quixo, which was launched by Kirsten Martinsen McMaster
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty seven. She was born in Sweden in
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty eight, and she had studied fashion and patterned
Speaker 1: drafting in Europe before moving to the US when she
Speaker 1: was in her twenties. That was a move she made
Speaker 1: for her job working for Viking Sewing Machines, and one
Speaker 1: of her jobs with Viking was designing patterns for a
Speaker 1: newly growing sewing trend. Working with knit fabrics. She eventually
Speaker 1: branched out on her own to create the So Knit
Speaker 1: and Stretch Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and then seven years
Speaker 1: after it launched, it became Quickso in nineteen seventy four.
Speaker 1: Kirston was the driving force behind Quixo until her death
Speaker 1: in two thousand and two. The company was purchased by
Speaker 1: McCall's in twenty eleven and continued until twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: when McCall stopped producing all of the garment patterns under
Speaker 1: the brand to focus just on crafts, and it has
Speaker 1: since been sunset completely. By the time Quickso had been
Speaker 1: sun set, all of the Big four were part of
Speaker 1: one company. In two thousand and one, Butterick and McCall's merged,
Speaker 1: which meant that Vogue was also part of that deal.
Speaker 1: This had been something of a survival necessity following the
Speaker 1: sewing boom of the nineteen fifties and sixties. Things had
Speaker 1: really dropped off as more and more women had entered
Speaker 1: the workforce, so there was just less sewing being done
Speaker 1: in most US homes. Butterick was close to going out
Speaker 1: of business when the McCall's merger happened at the time,
Speaker 1: soists were kind of suspicious of the deal, with some
Speaker 1: concern that there would be fewer choices in the designs
Speaker 1: available if there was no competition. But each company established
Speaker 1: and maintained its own clear brand. Then things happened pretty
Speaker 1: quickly in twenty sixteen and twenty seventeen. First, in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: CSS Industries, which was largely a gift wrap and holiday
Speaker 1: items brand, bought McCall Pattern Company for a reported fourteen
Speaker 1: million dollars. The following year, CSS bought Simplicity Creative Group
Speaker 1: for sixty four million dollars. It seems kind of like
Speaker 1: a monopoly, but the Federal Trade Commission didn't think so.
Speaker 1: CSS was then acquired by IG Design Group and twenty
Speaker 1: twenty for a reported eighty eight million dollars. Hey, you
Speaker 1: know we started part one. It was because the Big
Speaker 1: Four were being sold off from IG Design Group as
Speaker 1: IG Design Group Americas to Hilco, a liquidation company. Well,
Speaker 1: while I was working on this, DGA filed for Chapter
Speaker 1: eleven relief. In a July third write up on the
Speaker 1: filing that appeared in Business Wire, it was reported quote
Speaker 1: the company intends to pursue a value maximization strategy by
Speaker 1: engaging with buyers who were interested in purchasing certain of
Speaker 1: the company's business segments as a going concern, while concurrently
Speaker 1: winding down its domestically manufactured woven ribbon products business and
Speaker 1: supporting assets. So this seems and it's all so neus
Speaker 1: like it might be hinting that there could be some
Speaker 1: entity at least in discussions about possibly purchasing the pattern
Speaker 1: companies and keeping them going, but that is unclear and
Speaker 1: the future remains very murky. I as I said before,
Speaker 1: one percent expect for all of this to change in
Speaker 1: the gap between when we record and when we publish.
Speaker 1: If there's an actual development, maybe we'll do a pickup.
Speaker 1: We'll see what happens. Maybe. So one of the things
Speaker 1: that's troubling for alsoists is that these pattern companies are
Speaker 1: the only ones that print large scale tissue patterns. So
Speaker 1: if they're completely shuttered, smaller pattern companies that ran print
Speaker 1: jobs with them will no longer have any options. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I just want to say, if in the
Speaker 1: time between when we record this and when stuff comes
Speaker 1: out or shortly thereafter or whenever, if you see articles
Speaker 1: allege that all of the pattern companies mismanage their money
Speaker 1: and made silly decisions. Uh, just like think about the
Speaker 1: fact that they were acquired by private equity. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: mean when businesses that you love go out of business
Speaker 1: and you're like, man, what happened, and then you suddenly
Speaker 1: read articles about how they sold too many lobster dinners
Speaker 1: or whatever. A lot of times that wasn't the problem, right,
Speaker 1: And I mean we could talk more about this on
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, but there is also that thing that
Speaker 1: happens in a lot of industries where some business interest
Speaker 1: will have a surge in popularity and there will be
Speaker 1: a huge effort to move capital behind it to expand
Speaker 1: that part of your business. Yep, and then that business
Speaker 1: falls off and you're like, uh, oh, Spaghettios, that's not
Speaker 1: really mismanaging money. I mean, there can be money mismanagement
Speaker 1: in there, but it's also like moving to meet the
Speaker 1: needs of a market, and then when that market vanishes
Speaker 1: or dis pates for whatever reason, Yeah, you have to
Speaker 1: have an exit strategy. And sometimes, unfortunately, the exit strategy
Speaker 1: is we gotta sell list we got a fold or yeah,
Speaker 1: be acquired by someone. Yeah, do you have listener mail?
Speaker 1: On a better note than any of that. Uh, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think it's on a better note. It's about Edwen
Speaker 1: Howard Armstrong. Okay, great. This is from our listener, ed
Speaker 1: who writes high Holly and Tracy. I have to say
Speaker 1: that I absolutely loved your podcast on Edwin Armstrong. I
Speaker 1: have a BS and electrical engineering, and when I took
Speaker 1: my first course in radio for my undergrad the instructor
Speaker 1: described a super heterodine concept as the Armstrong superheterodine. I've
Speaker 1: always wanted to know more about Armstrong, and now I
Speaker 1: have a great idea as to who Armstrong was. I'm
Speaker 1: retired from engineering now I'm a veteran. Thank you for
Speaker 1: your service, but I still love learning about the history
Speaker 1: of engineering. My graduate diploma is in aeronautical engineering, so
Speaker 1: I'm waiting with baited breath to hear a story about
Speaker 1: a woman aeronautical engineer or three. For our other listeners,
Speaker 1: Tracy sent a reply to ed with some suggestions of
Speaker 1: things that we've recorded. I got addicted to your show
Speaker 1: several years ago, and I love the detail that you
Speaker 1: bring to each subject. I especially love your female focused episode.
Speaker 1: I am the father of two daughters and even more wonderful.
Speaker 1: I agree with your views on our current state of
Speaker 1: political affairs. Please keep up the incredible work and know
Speaker 1: that my two grown daughters and I love to listen
Speaker 1: and discuss your shows and spread the word to anyone
Speaker 1: who we feel would be interested in your show, which
Speaker 1: is damn near anyone. For now, I'm enclosing pictures of
Speaker 1: my three fur daughters, who are grown but live with
Speaker 1: their father, unlike their sisters on two legs. Take care
Speaker 1: and thanks again. These cats are so cute. There is
Speaker 1: a very very fluffy kind of buff with darker tone
Speaker 1: color elements that looks like she might be Sassafras. I
Speaker 1: love everything about it. That is Sydney, who is also
Speaker 1: known as Bubbles after the Powerpuff Girls. It's always getting
Speaker 1: her sister's into trouble. Listen, I love the Powerpuff Girls.
Speaker 1: You give me all the PPG references you want, because
Speaker 1: I'm here for it. And then there is a beautiful
Speaker 1: black tuxedo kitty named Pepper who is the eldest and
Speaker 1: the biggest troublemaker and instigator of all that is mischievous.
Speaker 1: And then Sterling who is called Linky. She was Sterling
Speaker 1: Silver when she was born and apparently briefly resembled a
Speaker 1: sausage link when she was filling out as a kitten,
Speaker 1: which is how she got the name Linky Linky. I
Speaker 1: hope this isn't the case. Linky looks like one of
Speaker 1: those cats that is a little bit emo. She's a
Speaker 1: little in her feelings. This is what it looks like
Speaker 1: based on this phono, but she could also just be
Speaker 1: having a moment of curious focus. Your babies are so beautiful,
Speaker 1: ed thank you for sharing them with us, and I'm
Speaker 1: so glad that our Edwin Howard Armstrong episode was enjoyable
Speaker 1: for you. I always worry anytime I'm talking about someone
Speaker 1: or something in a field that is not one I'm
Speaker 1: super hype a knowledgeable about. Like I try to read
Speaker 1: as much as I can and get as much foundation
Speaker 1: under my feet before I start running, but I always
Speaker 1: worry I'd miss something and someone in that field will
Speaker 1: be like you are a ding dong, which is possible,
Speaker 1: could always happen. If you would like to write to
Speaker 1: us and share your kiddies or your opinions on whether
Speaker 1: or not I'm a ding dong answers, Yes, I'm good
Speaker 1: with it. You can do that at History podcast at
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio dot com. You can also subscribe to the show
Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.