WEBVTT - Paper Sewing Patterns, Part 2 0:00:01.320 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:14.080 of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:17.239 Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and we are still 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:21.159 talking about paper sewing patterns this week. Little did you 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:25.680 know this could possibly be two episodes worth of information. Honestly, 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:28.200 this could be a whole podcast series. Yeah, I was 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:29.840 gonna say, I bet it could be a whole series 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:32.959 if we wanted. Yeah, easily. I felt bad every time 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:35.159 I cut something. And there's one in particular that we 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:38.159 don't mention it all, and I will explain why I'm 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.880 behind the scenes. Yeah. And we sat in part one 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:43.479 that this is really a focus on like Europe and 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:47.280 North America, and it became a global thing. It could 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:51.080 be like ten podcasts series forget it, see you next year, 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:53.199 and people would be like, I don't sew, I'm not 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:57.400 in for this. But here we are. At the end 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:01.800 of part one, we had mentioned, after talking about various 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:05.560 tailoring and some sewing books that had come out, that 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.520 there were two people that really kicked off the industry 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.920 of printed patterns in the US and made them super popular, 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:16.039 and those were Ellen Curtis Demorist and Ebenezer Butterick. So 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:18.639 today we are going to talk about those two people 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:21.320 as well as the development of the other companies that 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:25.360 make up the so called Big four pattern companies, Butterick, McCall's, 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:30.560 Vogue and Simplicity. Ellen Louise Curtis was born on November fifteenth, 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:33.920 eighteen twenty four, in Skylerville, New York. She went to 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.160 Skylerville Academy as a teenager, and when she graduated at 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:40.640 the age of eighteen, she immediately went into business as 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:44.600 a milliner with her own shop. She worked in millinery 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.800 for about fifteen years and then got married in her 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:52.640 mid thirties to a man named William Demorist. So Ellen's 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:56.600 entree into pattern printing is often described as her envisioning 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:58.960 a product that could fill the gap in the home 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.040 sewing market series of patterns that were offered in multiple 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:06.120 sizes and were mass produced, not custom measured for each client, 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:08.960 and that her husband, William was on board, and that 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:13.240 they launched this new business venture together. That doesn't seem 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:17.240 to be entirely accurate, though there was another Missus Demrist 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:21.720 before Ellen, and that was Margaret Demorist. William's first wife, 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:26.040 and she was billed as Missus Demorist in pattern ads 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:29.480 and women's magazines in the mid eighteen fifties. One from 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:32.240 eighteen fifty three that ran in The New York Times 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:36.639 touted sewing lessons as well as quote patterns of plane 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:41.520 and basque wastes cut to fit the form with unfailing accuracy, 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.799 and elegant dress patterns cut at eighteen and a half cents. 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:49.800 William had hired Ellen and her sister Kate to actually 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:53.760 design and produce the patterns, while Margaret was the public 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:57.919 face of the brand. Initially. Margaret Demors died in eighteen 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:02.320 fifty nine, the year before Ellie and William married, and 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:06.040 once Ellen assumed the role of Missus Demrist both domestically 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:10.400 and professionally, the pattern company, which pad and modest success 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:14.720 in the eighteen fifties, really started to take off. In 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.720 eighteen sixty, the two of them opened a shop on 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:23.880 Broadway in Manhattan called Madam Demorest's Emporium of Fashions. The 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:26.919 patterns that they sold were not just functional for sewing, 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:30.880 they were also works of art. Dressmakers shops that used 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:34.560 the patterns could also assemble the pattern itself with pins, 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:37.760 and have a display piece for their window. Because the 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:42.560 Demorists printed their patterns on colored paper, customers could even 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:47.280 get trims for their assembled paper patterns. But the Demorists 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.080 had a much bigger vision than just opening a shop 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:54.400 from which to sell patterns. They envisioned an entire brand 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:58.800 that people would associate with style and dressmaking. To expand 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:03.200 their business identity, they also started a periodical, Madam Demorrist's 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.560 Mirror of Fashions, which William basically ran in terms of 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:09.560 the editorial while Ellen managed the shop and the new 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:13.520 designs and The magazine, which ran for nearly thirty years, 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.800 published color plates of the latest fashion trends, and it 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:20.880 also included full sized patterns. These were not part of 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:23.839 the page content of the magazine. They were a separate 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:27.000 insert that was stapled into the magazine itself for easy 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:31.680 removal and use. The Demorists also still offered the patterns 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:35.280 as separate products. Customers didn't need to purchase the magazine 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:37.640 if they didn't want to, they could just select from 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:41.159 the various pattern offerings. This was the first of many 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:45.000 products the Demorists eventually offered through both mail order and 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:50.760 via retailer distribution. Over time, their products included branded sewing 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:55.760 notions like pins, scissors, and measuring implements, and even foundation 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:58.240 garments to get the perfect base layer for the new 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:03.480 dresses customers were stitches. The Demorrists also expanded into cosmetics 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:07.000 to offer a full fashion and beauty brand. Yeah, they 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:10.320 also kind of franchised, like there were multiple Demorist shops 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.400 that opened up that were run by other people, and 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:17.160 they were very successful in all of this. By eighteen 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.400 sixty four, just four years into their venture together, they 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.640 had to expand their quarterly magazine to a monthly which 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:28.040 was called Demorists Illustrated Monthly Magazine and Madame demeris Mirror 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:30.840 of Fashions. It was kind of two magazines, but they 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:33.599 were all put together into one and that was all 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:37.239 one title for him, and the magazine, of course touted 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.960 their patterns on the first page in a huge ad. 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.880 For example, the April eighteen sixty five ad read life 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:47.479 sized paper models of all the reliable and latest Paris 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:51.920 designs for ladies and children's dress, arranged and elegantly trimmed 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:54.719 so as to present the most perfect resemblance to the 0:05:54.760 --> 0:06:03.040 original articles, including Evening Home Bridle or fancy dresses, also cloaks, mantles, waists, jackets, sleeves, 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:08.120 apron sacks, capes, robes de chambre, undergarments, etc. And every 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:11.799 style of garment adapted to boys and misses and infants 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:15.800 that has any claim for either novelty or utility, all 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.080 accurately reproduced in tissue paper as soon as they are 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:22.240 offered in either Paris or London to secure which we 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:26.600 have completed ample and costly arrangements. Patterns sent by mail 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:29.640 or express to all parts of the Union. In Canada, 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:34.520 Madame Demorrist's excelsior and always first premium system of dress cutting. 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:38.719 The rest of the magazine included articles about the latest 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:42.919 fashions and accessories, such as Paisley Shawl's being a good investment, 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:46.240 small pieces of sheet music so readers could learn a 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:51.479 new song, sequential art stories, fiction stories and essays, and 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:55.560 commentary on fashion related news that included the ball for 0:06:55.640 --> 0:07:00.040 President Lincoln's second inauguration, of which the magazine noted quote 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:04.040 the arrangements for a brilliant opening of mister Lincoln's second 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:08.120 term were made with great liberality and were entirely successful. 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:12.160 Nothing could exceed the imposing grandeur of the spectacle which 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.320 the Great Hall of the Patent Office presented when the 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:19.080 Auguste assemblage composed of the President and his lady, the 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:22.360 foreign ministers with their wives, the heads of departments, and 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:26.640 five thousand of the most distinguished people from different parts 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:30.920 of the country was complete. The clothes were, of course, 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:34.200 also noted in this ride up quote. The toilettes were, 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:38.520 many of them magnificent. Missus Lincoln's consisted of white satin 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.480 with an elegant white lace flounce festooned at the side 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:46.360 with heavy white silk cord and tassels. A bertha of 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:49.800 point lace ornamented the low neck, and a costly point 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:53.120 lace shawl covered her shoulders. Her hair was worn in 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:56.640 curls and adorned with white and purple flowers, pearl necklace, 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:00.960 and ornaments, bouquet and violets. In the early eighties teen seventies, 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:06.280 the magazine began touting the latest demorist innovation patterns in 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:10.960 sizes other than an average slash medium, and it also 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:14.920 developed really smart ways to integrate pattern sales with fashion 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:19.720 and society news and information. An editorial package about cruises, 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:22.480 for example, would include information on how to book them 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.360 and where types of excursions that one might go on, 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.400 and then suggest the patterns that would enable the reader 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:32.200 to prepare the perfect wardrobe for such a trip. The 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:35.480 Demorst brand assured women who stitched their own garments that 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:39.439 their patterns would enable them to create clothing as stylish 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:44.240 as people in higher income brackets. Not entirely germane to 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:47.840 the topic of patterns, but worth mentioning the way that 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.679 Ellen Demerist ran her business was quite progressive. She made 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.679 working women one of her personal causes, and she walked 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:57.720 that walk. Her business employed a lot of women, and 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:02.080 that included black women. She also reportedly hired black employees 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:05.640 under the same employment terms and pay rates as white employees. 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:09.520 She talked about the importance of recognizing women as part 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:13.320 of the workforce publicly. In November of eighteen sixty three, 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:16.600 she wrote a long and rather sharp reply to the 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:19.200 editor of The New York Times for an article that 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.600 had been published about women in the workforce. Her reply 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:25.720 began quote, inasmuch as you are not a woman and 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:29.320 do not to any extent employ women, allow one who 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:32.280 is and who does to reply to yesterday's article headed 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:37.280 Women's work and their Struggle for better compensation. The whole article, 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:40.839 because of being based on false premises, will bear an 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:45.320 absolute reversion. She then picks apart the entire article point 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:48.880 by point, noting, among other things, that the original article 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:52.040 failed to take into account, the fact that women are 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:55.200 expected to raise children and that it's one of the 0:09:55.240 --> 0:10:01.120 reasons women weren't often seen in careers. Demerist was involved 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.760 over the years and a lot of women's causes, and 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:07.040 the magazine often gave space to women writers to share 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:11.840 opinions on women's issues. Yeah, people like Luisa may Alcott 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:16.079 contributed to the magazine all the time. The eighteen seventy 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:21.559 six Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia featured two paper dress pattern exhibits. 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:25.040 One of those was set up by the Madame Demerist Company. 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:28.760 The other display was the work of Ebenezer Butterick. And 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.440 we're going to talk about Butterick and his company after 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:44.120 we pause for a sponsor break. Ebenezer Butterick was born 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:47.600 in Sterling, Massachusetts, on May twenty ninth, eighteen twenty six. 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.120 He apprenticed as a tailor starting at an early age, 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:53.800 and then he opened his own business as a merchant tailor. 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:57.600 So that's a tailor who makes clothes but also manages 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:00.400 an inventory of fabric that is used for the clothes 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:04.320 but is also offered at retail. He is frequently described 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.120 as having been kind of a mediocre as a tailor 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:10.120 and not having a lot of success in that business. 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:13.679 But then, in eighteen sixty three, Butterick, working with his 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:17.200 wife Ellen Augusta Butterick, Yes there are two Ellens in 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:21.720 this story, he did two things. He started offering standardized 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:26.079 tissue paper patterns in multiple sizes, and he established a 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:30.640 factory to print them in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. This was a 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:33.800 lot more lucrative than his tailoring business had been, and 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.240 he saw its potential. Butterick also had the foresight to 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:42.239 do something the demorists had not. He patented his patterns. Initially, 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.040 most of his patterns were for men and boys clothes, 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:48.160 and he also started a periodical, although his was not 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:51.400 a frequent one. That was the Semi Annual Report of 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:56.040 Gents Fashions, which debuted in eighteen sixty five. He offered 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.520 individual patterns for twenty five to fifty cents, but you 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.480 could also make a bulk purchase of fifty patterns for 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:07.080 five dollars. The next year he added graded size designs 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:10.120 for women and girls, and that was when things really 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:15.320 took off. He also started another periodical, Ladies, quarterly report 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:20.480 of Broadway fashions. His women's patterns were usually four component 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.600 pieces of a garment and not a full dress, for example, 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.360 so rather than an entire dress, a customer could purchase 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.760 a bodice and a skirt separately and then combine them 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:34.160 into a dress. One of the reasons his offerings became 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:37.680 so popular so quickly was that he offered what was 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:41.440 at the time an extremely wide size range. It was 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:44.440 graded to fit bus lines from twenty eight inches to 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:48.600 forty six inches. Butterick also innovated in the way that 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:52.840 patterns were packaged. The Butterick Company folded the tissue patterns 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:56.080 so they would fit snugly into a packet envelope that 0:12:56.200 --> 0:13:00.040 had that envelope flap closure, and soon that became the 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:04.040 industry standard. By the end of the eighteen sixties, Butterick 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:07.720 moved his pattern printing operation to a new factory location 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:11.280 in Brooklyn, New York, and he revamped his magazine of 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:16.160 women's fashions, calling it Metropolitan and publishing it monthly like 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:21.280 Demorist's magazine. This was part style information and part self advertising, 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:25.280 but Butterick also used it to bolster his reputation through 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:30.080 what was almost certainly false reporting of his company's success. 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:33.240 For example, he claimed that he sold more than fifteen 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:40.720 hundred patterns every day, which historians have dismissed as highly unlikely. Yeah, 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:44.120 that's a lot. In that same nineteen seventy nine paper 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:46.720 we mentioned in the first part of this two parter 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:50.880 by historian Margaret Walsh, titled the Democratization of Fashion The 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:54.480 Emergence of the Women's Dress pattern Industry, Walsh notes how 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:57.920 this exhibit at the Exposition was a touchstone of a 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:00.960 massive change in a way that it changed fashion for 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:03.840 a wider array of people than would have had access 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.880 to such things prior quote. At mid century, fashion both 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.480 as an indicator of financial strength and social rank and 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:14.640 as an expression of femininity had been the prerogative of 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.439 the rich. Only the wealthy could afford to change their 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:21.120 styles of dress frequently. But now, thanks to the mass 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:25.040 production of paper patterns, American women in their European counterparts 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.360 were able to participate in a new social experience of 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:32.680 making stylish clothes at will. Eighteen seventy six was a 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:36.640 big year for the Demorists. Their company had the biggest 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:39.320 year it would ever have on the books. They sold 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:43.400 three million patterns that year, but after that things leveled 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.280 off for them, even though they won several awards at 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:51.200 the expo. Conversely, Butterick saw growth. In eighteen eighty one, 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:56.320 Ebenezer Butterick founded the Butterick Publishing Company, an international iteration 0:14:56.440 --> 0:15:01.560 of his already very busy business. Already between the two companies' 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:05.360 trajectories is sometimes attributed to the fact that the Demorists 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:09.440 didn't copyright their designs, so soon the same products were 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:15.080 available elsewhere whereas Butterick had his protected. But the market 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:18.120 had also had a lot of newcomers who saw the 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:21.840 success of the Demorists and Butterick brands and also wanted 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:26.040 to offer patterns to home soists. Another big factor that 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:29.520 differentiated the two was that the Demorists, in trying to 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:33.800 create an entire brand, had kind of over diversified. They 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:39.160 weren't associated just with patterns, Butterick was. Butterick's patterns also 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:44.440 offered more instructions than Demorists. But the big big thing 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:47.680 was that Butterick had started his own printing facility to 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:50.880 turn out patterns. He could do it fast, and he 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:54.800 could do it in large quantities. The Demorists and other 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:57.920 competitors on the market just didn't have that level of 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:03.240 ownership of the manufacturing and that hurt them. One of 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:06.760 the other competitors who started offering patterns as Butterick and 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.880 Demorist were showing that it was a very viable business 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:14.960 was James McCall. This one is a little bit frustrating 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:19.000 in terms of the history because information on McCall is 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:22.200 actually pretty sparse. We know he was a Scottish born 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:25.240 tailor who moved to New York from Glasgow in eighteen 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:28.000 sixty nine, and he worked in the sewing trade in 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:30.880 New York, first for a British company called Royal Chart 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:34.080 that sold a pattern drafting system, and then he worked 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:37.200 for a sewing machine company. When he went into the 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:41.320 pattern business for himself, he too had an accompanying periodical 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:45.560 that was called Catalog of the Bizarre Paper Patterns. He 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.960 was purposely trying to gain momentum by making people think 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:52.960 this might be an offering affiliated with Harper's Bizarre magazine, 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:56.200 which had grown popular as a fashion publication. By then 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:59.560 he next moved on to a new name, The Queen, 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:03.160 though it was subtitled once again with the word bizarre 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:08.000 as illustrating McCall's bizarre glove fitting patterns. He was, to 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:11.400 be clear, absolutely not the only person doing this. There 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.879 were a lot of magazines and pattern catalogs with the 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:17.399 word bizar somewhere in the title, trying to trade on 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:22.560 the Harper's Bizarre popularity. But then finally in eighteen ninety seven, 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:26.840 it just became McCall's magazine. We mentioned in the first 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.760 part of this episode that most of these patterns being 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:33.840 distributed were actually blocks or slopers. They didn't include a 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:37.679 seam allowance. In nineteen nineteen, McCall's took the step to 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:42.440 start printing all of the company's patterns with seam allowance included. 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:46.399 The stitching line was denoted with a dotted line on 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:49.800 the pattern, and the cutting line was a solid line. 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.200 McCall died sometime at the end of the nineteenth century. 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:56.480 The details are a little unclear, and at that point 0:17:56.520 --> 0:18:00.560 his wife, who was only named in accounts as Missus McCall, 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:04.040 ran the company until she sold it to a banking group. 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:08.760 Next up, was Vogue Patterns, which started in eighteen ninety nine. 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:13.280 Unlike other pattern companies who offered magazines to grow their 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:18.159 names in businesses, Vogue Magazine predated the Pattern company that 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:21.639 started in eighteen ninety three, and the pattern branch of 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:24.520 Vogue's business began as a mail away service that was 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:28.320 part of Vogue Magazine. A mail in coupon was printed 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:30.879 in the magazine that readers could fill out and mail 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:33.320 in along with fifty cents, and then they would get 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:35.119 a pattern back so that they could make one of 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:39.359 the latest fashions featured in that magazine. But in eighteen 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:43.199 ninety nine, the Patterns became its own division, with a 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:47.479 range of patterns available for direct order. The year that 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:51.480 Vogue Pattern Service launched, Ebenezer Butterick stepped away from his 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:54.840 work in the company that bore his name. His health 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:58.359 had declined, and he returned home to Stirling, Massachusetts to 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:01.320 live out the remaining years of his life. He died 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.240 in March of nineteen oh three, but the company continued. 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:09.639 Vogue was purchased by Conde Nast that's the person, not 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:14.560 the company. The company is named after him in nineteen 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:17.440 oh nine, and five years after that. In nineteen fourteen, 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:21.120 the company sort of relaunched Vogue Patterns, this time as 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:25.320 a standalone business which was Vogue Pattern Company. Vogue Patterns 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:28.080 saw rapid success, and it was the first company that 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:32.560 had widespread department store distribution. In the mail away version 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:35.360 of the company. Vogue had been the first to license 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:39.280 designs from European designers, so women everywhere could make their 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:43.600 own versions of designer clothes using designer patterns, and this 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:46.800 is actually something that has continued through the current times. 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:50.280 Other pattern companies have done this, but Vogue has been 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:55.199 associated with it throughout. We'll talk about a newcomer to 0:19:55.280 --> 0:20:06.760 the pattern game after we hear from some of our sponsors. 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:12.280 The nineteen twenties were very busy for pattern companies. It 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:15.240 was in the nineteen twenties that pattern envelopes started getting 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:18.080 full color illustrations of the fashions that you could make 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:22.520 with the contents. This was another innovation that McCall's spearheaded, 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:26.800 but within a decade all pattern companies had adopted the practice. 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:29.560 As designer fashion became more and more prominent in the 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:33.680 Roaring twenties, McCall's embraced it by working with high profile 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:39.040 designers like Elsa Scaparelli and Jean Levan to create licensed patterns, 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:42.960 and the last of the Big Four, Simplicity Patterns, was 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:47.760 founded in nineteen twenty seven. Joseph M. Shapiro was born 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:51.680 in eighteen eighty eight in Borisov, Russia, and had moved 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:54.800 to the United States in nineteen twelve. He had a 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:57.159 number of jobs over the years, but he was working 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:00.639 for a fashion trade magazine when he decided to launch 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:04.720 the company based on his opinion that dress patterns cost 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:08.200 too much. At the time, the cost of a sewing 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:12.440 pattern ranged from forty five cents to two dollars. Simplicity 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:14.879 came into the market with a goal of aiming for 0:21:14.920 --> 0:21:19.560 the business of lower income soists Simplicity patterns were only 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:23.880 fifteen cents. This idea of making sewing as economical as 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:27.920 possible would drive a lot of the company's initiatives after this, 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:32.280 Shapiro later told an interview quote, what's the tendency of 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:36.560 the American people in everything and architecture and eating and living. 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:40.280 I asked myself, it's simplicity. So I was pretty sure 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:43.680 cheap patterns would go. But I made one mistake. Ten 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:46.840 cents was too cheap. No one would believe they could 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:49.000 be any good at that price, so I raised it 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:53.640 to fifteen cents, and they began selling like hotcakes. Simplicity's 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:57.399 timing entering into the market was fortuitous. When the Great 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:00.960 Depression hit in the United States, more people than ever 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:04.840 turned to swing their own clothing, and because Simplicity's price 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:10.399 point was the lowest, the popularity really soared. Joseph's wife, 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:14.840 Caroline Hutchins Shapiro, is super important to this story. She 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:18.080 was a home economist and she had a tremendous influence 0:22:18.160 --> 0:22:22.119 on the company's offerings and ethics. Because she specialized in 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:25.000 home ech and Simplicity had been founded with the vision 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:29.320 to empower stitchers at all economic levels. She spearheaded a 0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:33.680 new division of the company, the Education Department. This department 0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:36.440 worked with the public school system to assist with home 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:40.119 economics curricula, and even had company reps who would travel 0:22:40.160 --> 0:22:43.760 to visit schools regularly. This was great in terms of 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:46.800 helping educators, but it was also really savvy and that 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:50.040 it meant that the next generation of soists and thus 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:54.760 customers was always getting support from Simplicity. So if you're 0:22:54.800 --> 0:22:57.000 one of those people who took homech in school and 0:22:57.040 --> 0:22:59.439 had a sewing project like an apron or a basic 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:01.879 garment as well part of your school work. That is 0:23:01.920 --> 0:23:04.760 thanks in part to the materials that the Simplicity Education 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:08.679 Department provided schools with in its early years, setting the 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:13.080 tone for home at curricula for decades. Caroline Shapiro stayed 0:23:13.080 --> 0:23:16.080 with the company until the late nineteen sixties, when she 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:20.040 retired after working for Simplicity for more than thirty years. 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:24.400 In the nineteen forties, Simplicity started offering patterns that had 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:28.560 been designed to use as little fabric as possible. There 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:32.119 were also tips included for using the fabric from existing 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:35.679 garments to make something new. According to a stat on 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:39.120 Simplicity's website, the war years were a boon for home 0:23:39.200 --> 0:23:42.800 sewing as everybody was trying to economize. Before the start 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:46.080 of World War II, an estimated fifty percent of women 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:48.520 in the US sewed, but by the end of the 0:23:48.560 --> 0:23:52.040 war it was more than eighty percent. Simplicity was not 0:23:52.119 --> 0:23:55.639 the only patterned company to meet the country's economic challenges 0:23:55.680 --> 0:24:00.760 with simpler designs that required less fabric. Vogue also shifted 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:04.679 its design as slimmer silhouettes became more realistic for the 0:24:04.680 --> 0:24:09.399 finances of soists when the country's financial picture grew brighter 0:24:09.440 --> 0:24:12.639 in the nineteen fifties, though, Vogue was quick to launch 0:24:12.880 --> 0:24:17.720 new couture campaigns, including a line developed in collaboration with 0:24:17.880 --> 0:24:20.879 Christian Dior. Yeah, that's the point where you get that 0:24:21.080 --> 0:24:23.480 so called new look that he was coming up with, 0:24:23.640 --> 0:24:26.399 which was like a very fitted, nipped in waiste with 0:24:26.480 --> 0:24:29.119 a huge skirt that was very voluminous to create a 0:24:29.160 --> 0:24:34.320 really sharp silhouette. And those skirts take a lot of 0:24:34.520 --> 0:24:39.080 yardage to make that beauty. So they quickly shifted gears. 0:24:39.800 --> 0:24:42.960 But that ongoing effort to appeal to a wider audience 0:24:42.960 --> 0:24:46.639 of economic levels really paid off for Simplicity. By the 0:24:46.680 --> 0:24:50.160 late nineteen fifties, the company had offices around the world 0:24:50.240 --> 0:24:54.280 and patterns were sold in five dozen countries. The company 0:24:54.320 --> 0:24:57.080 built on that success in the early nineteen sixties by 0:24:57.160 --> 0:25:00.280 launching the Jiffy line of patterns, and this line was 0:25:00.280 --> 0:25:03.760 designed to be approachable in every way. It was inexpensive, 0:25:04.359 --> 0:25:07.080 relatively easy to sew, with few pieces to cut out, 0:25:07.440 --> 0:25:12.840 and generally Jiffy patterns had low yardage requirements. With Simplicity's 0:25:12.880 --> 0:25:15.920 star on the rise, Butterick made a move to stay 0:25:15.960 --> 0:25:19.440 relevant in nineteen sixty one when it purchased the Vogue 0:25:19.480 --> 0:25:24.360 Patterns license. Vogue was and still is the pattern company 0:25:24.400 --> 0:25:27.640 most associated with high fashion designs, so this was an 0:25:27.720 --> 0:25:31.560