Paper Sewing Patterns, Part 2

Ellen Curtis Demorest and Ebeneezer Butterick are the two names most often invoked as the start of multi-sized patterns printed for home sewists. Once they proved it was a viable business, a lot of other offerings appeared.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Holly Frey?

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. A rare disease diagnosis can change your life, but it doesn't have to define your future. In season seven of Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition, host Martine Hackett continues the conversation with people living with MG, CIDP, and the broader rare disease community, exploring what comes after diagnosis through stories of hope, progress, and connection. Produced by Ruby Studio in partnership with Argentix. Listen on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 0:35Tracy V. Wilson?

  Whether you're calling the wise women in your life, video calling your girlfriends across the country, or checking in on someone who always knows how to make you smile, staying connected matters. Those small conversations, shared laughs, and quick hellos are what keep relationships strong even when life gets busy. Some of the most life-giving conversations start with just a phone call. That's why AT&T guarantees the network you can rely on, so you can focus on the moments and people that matter most. That's the AT&T Guarantee. AT&T: Connecting Changes Everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.com/guarantee for details.

• 1:10Speaker 02

  Attention Chicken Nugget fans. Burger King heard that a lot of you didn't like the old chicken nuggets, so they got to work and reinvented them. These new chicken nuggets are their tastiest, crispiest, juiciest nuggets ever. And because better chicken nuggets deserve better sauces, they've reinvented several of their sauces, and they created a brand new one. The new special savory sauce, which is only available for a limited time at participating US restaurants, don't wait around. You gotta try the new Burger King Chicken Nuggets today.

• 1:39Tracy V. Wilson?

  The Old Gays are back with Silver Linings, their lovable podcast from iHeart's Ruby Studio in partnership with ViiV Healthcare. Robert, Mick, Bill, and Jessa strut back down memory lane for season two, sharing lessons on life, love, and loss. These are the kind of insights that only come from experience. So tune in to Silver Linings with The Old Gays on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 2:07Holly Frey?

  Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeart Radio.

• 2:18Holly Frey?

  Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Frey.

• 2:20Tracy V. Wilson?

  And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

• 2:22Holly Frey?

  And we are still talking about paper sewing patterns this week. Little did you know, this could possibly be two episodes worth of information. Honestly, this could be a whole podcast series.

• 2:34Tracy V. Wilson?

  Yeah, I was gonna say, I bet it could be a whole series if we wanted.

• 2:37Holly Frey?

  Yeah, easily. I felt bad every time I cut something. And there's one in particular that we don't mention at all, and I will explain why on Behind the Scenes.

• 2:45Tracy V. Wilson?

  Yeah. And we said in part one that this is really a focus on like Europe and North America. And if it became a global thing, it could be like 10 podcast series.

• 2:55Holly Frey?

  Forget it. See you, see you next year. And people would be like, I don't sew, I'm not in for this, but here we are.

• 3:03Holly Frey?

  At the end of part one, we had mentioned, after talking about various tailoring and some sewing books that had come out, that there were two people that really kicked off the industry of printed patterns in the US and made them super popular. And those were Ellen Curtis Demorest and Ebenezer Butterick. So today, we are going to talk about those two people, as well as the development of the other companies that make up the so-called Big Four Pattern Companies, Butterick, McCall's, Vogue, and Simplicity.

• 3:33Tracy V. Wilson?

  Ellen Louise Curtis was born on November 15th, 1824, in Skylerville, New York. She went to Skylerville Academy as a teenager. And when she graduated at the age of 18, she immediately went into business as a milliner with her own shop. She worked in millinery for about 15 years and then got married in her mid-30s to a man named William Demorest.

• 3:57Holly Frey?

  So Ellen's entree into pattern printing is often described as her envisioning a product that could fill the gap in the home sewing market, a series of patterns that were offered in multiple sizes and were mass-produced, not custom-measured for each client, and that her husband William was on board, and that they launched this new business venture together.

• 4:18Tracy V. Wilson?

  That doesn't seem to be entirely accurate, though. There was another Mrs. Demorest before Ellen, and that was Margaret Demorest, William's first wife.

• 4:28Tracy V. Wilson?

  And she was billed as Mrs. Demorest in pattern ads in women's magazines in the mid 1850s. One from 1853 that ran in the New York Times touted sewing lessons as well as, quote, "patterns of plain and basque waists," cut to fit the form with "unfailing accuracy." "An elegant dress patterns cut at eighteen and a half cents." William had hired Ellen and her sister Kate to actually design and produce the patterns, while Margaret was the public face of the brand initially. Margaret Demorest died in 1859, the year before Ellen and William married.

• 5:08Holly Frey?

  And once Ellen assumed the role of Mrs. Demorest, both domestically and professionally, the pattern company, which had modest success in the 1850s, really started to take off.

• 5:20Tracy V. Wilson?

  In 1860, the two of them opened a shop on Broadway in Manhattan called Madame Demorest's Emporium of Fashions. The patterns that they sold were not just functional for sewing, they were also works of art. Dressmaker shops that used the patterns could also assemble the pattern itself with pins and have a display piece for their window, because the Demarests printed their patterns on colored paper. Customers could even get trims for their assembled paper patterns.

• 5:52Holly Frey?

  But the Demarests had a much bigger vision than just opening a shop from which to sell patterns. They envisioned an entire brand that people would associate with style and dressmaking. To expand their business identity, they also started a periodical, Madame Demorest's Mirror of Fashions, which William basically ran in terms of the editorial, while Ellen managed the shop and the new designs. And the magazine, which ran for nearly 30 years, published color plates of the latest fashion trends, and it also included full-sized patterns. These were not part of the page content of the magazine. They were a separate insert that was stapled into the magazine itself for easy removal and use.

• 6:35Tracy V. Wilson?

  The Demarests also still offered the patterns as separate products. Customers didn't need to purchase the magazine if they didn't want to. They could just select from the various pattern offerings. This was the first of many products that Demarests eventually offered through both mail order and via retailer distribution.

• 6:54Tracy V. Wilson?

  Over time, their products included branded sewing notions like pins, scissors, and measuring implements, and even foundation garments to get the perfect base layer for the new dresses customers were stitching. The Demerists also expanded into cosmetics to offer a full fashion and beauty brand.

• 7:12Holly Frey?

  Yeah, they also kind of franchised, like there were multiple Demerist shops that opened up that were run by other people. And they were very successful in all of this. By 1864, just four years into their venture together, they had to expand their quarterly magazine to a monthly, which was called Demerist's Illustrated Monthly Magazine and Madame Demerist's Mirror of Fashions. It was kind of two magazines, but they were all put together into one, and that was all one title for it. And the magazine, of course, touted their patterns on the first page in a huge ad. For example, the April 1865 ad read, "Life-size paper models of all the reliable and latest

• 7:53Holly Frey?

  Paris designs for ladies and children's dress, arranged and elegantly trimmed so as to present the most perfect resemblance to the original articles, including evening, home, bridal, or fancy dresses also, cloaks, mantles, waists, jackets, sleeves, aprons, sacks, capes, robes de chambre, undergarments, etc., and every style of garment adapted to boys and misses and infants that has any claim for either novelty or utility, all accurately reproduced in tissue paper as soon as they are offered in either Paris or London, to secure which we have completed ample and costly arrangements. Patterns sent by mail or express to all parts of the Union and Canada, Madame Demerist's

• 8:37Holly Frey?

  Excelsior and always first premium system of dress cutting."

• 8:40Tracy V. Wilson?

  The rest of the magazine included articles about the latest fashions and accessories, such as paisley shawls being a good investment, small pieces of sheet music so readers could learn a new song, sequential art stories, fiction stories and essays, and commentary on fashion-related news. That included the ball for President Lincoln's second inauguration, of which the magazine noted, quote, "The arrangements for a brilliant opening of Mr. Lincoln's second term were made with great liberality and were entirely successful. Nothing could exceed the imposing grandeur of the spectacle which the great hall of the Patent Office presented when the august assemblage,

• 9:22Tracy V. Wilson?

  composed of the President and his lady, the foreign ministers with their wives, the heads of departments, and 5,000 of the most distinguished people from different parts of the country, was complete." The clothes were, of course, also noted in this write-up, quote, "The toilets were, many of them, magnificent. Mrs. Lincoln's consisted of white satin with an elegant white lace flounce festooned at the side with heavy white silk cord and tassels. A bertha of point lace ornamented the low neck, and a costly point lace shawl covered her shoulders. Her hair was worn in curls and adorned with white and purple flowers, pearl necklace and ornaments, bouquet and violets."

• 10:05Holly Frey?

  In the early 1870s, the magazine began touting the latest Demerist innovation: patterns in sizes other than an average slash medium. It had also developed really smart ways to integrate pattern sales with fashion and society news and information. An editorial package about cruises, for example, would include information on how to book them and where, types of excursions that one might go on, and then suggest the patterns that would enable the reader to prepare the perfect wardrobe for such a trip. The Demerist brand assured women who stitched their own garments that their patterns would enable them to create clothing as stylish as people in higher-income brackets.

• 10:48Tracy V. Wilson?

  Not entirely germane to the topic of patterns, but worth mentioning, the way that Ellen Demerist ran her business was quite progressive. She made working women one of her personal causes, and she walked that walk. Her business employed a lot of women, and that included black women. She also reportedly hired black employees under the same employment terms and pay rates as white employees. She talked about the importance of recognizing women as part of the workforce publicly. In November of 1863, she wrote a long and rather sharp reply to the editor of the New York Times for an article that had been published about women in the workforce. Her reply began, quote, "Inasmuch as you are not a woman and do not, to any extent,

• 11:33Tracy V. Wilson?

  employ women, allow one who is and who does to reply to yesterday's article headed Women's Work and Their Struggle for Better Compensation. The whole article, because of being based on false premises, will bear an absolute reversion." She then picks apart the entire article, point by point, noting, among other things, that the original article failed to take into account the fact that women are expected to raise children and that it's one of the reasons women weren't often seen in careers. Ellen Demerist was involved over the years in a lot of women's causes, and the magazine often gave space to women writers to share opinions on women's issues.

• 12:15Holly Frey?

  Yeah, people like Louisa May Alcott contributed to the magazine all the time. The 1876 Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia featured two paper dress pattern exhibits. One of those was set up by the Madame Demerist Company. The other display was the work of Ebenezer Butterick, and we're going to talk about Butterick and his company after we pause for a sponsor break.

• 12:42Speaker 03

  First thought is like, wow, how are we going to do all this?

• 12:45Tracy V. Wilson?

  Hey, everybody, it's Tracy from Stuff You Missed in History Class. That's Alan Goya, a planning engineer at AT&T. He's talking about Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers, where every seat, screen, phone, and transaction is connected with AT&T fiber and 5G, defining the fan's experience. And Alan's master plan made it all possible.

• 13:05Speaker 03

  It was going to rival anything that was already built, and that takes quite a bit of people and different teams. To all be on the same page.

• 13:13Tracy V. Wilson?

  That includes field services manager Drexel Jones. His team made sure it all came together and held up on game day.

• 13:20Speaker 04

  Through what Alan's whole crew designed, we connected the event visitors to the world.

• 13:25Tracy V. Wilson?

  And after years of hard work and collaboration, it was opening night.

• 13:29Speaker 04

  To actually see the whole stadium light up and data is flowing is a beautiful thing.

• 13:33Speaker 03

  What the fans experience is incredible. It gave me a lot of pride.

• 13:37Tracy V. Wilson?

  AT&T, connecting fans to what they love. Connecting changes everything. AT&T. So you're considering getting a home security system, but you want something that fits your space. Well, with ADT Blue, it's easy to customize a system that's right for you and set it up yourself. Just pick the kit and monitoring plan that makes sense for your home. Let's say you're worried about package theft. The ADT Plus app can walk you through setting up a new doorbell camera kit. Once it's installed, ADT Pros can help you keep tabs on it 24/7, or you can manage it yourself from the ADT Plus app. There are no long-term contracts, so you can change your monitoring plan whenever you want. The flexibility doesn't end there. You can add to your system as you need to with things like extra cameras or motion sensors.

• 14:22Tracy V. Wilson?

  Some life decisions are hard, but thanks to ADT Blue, you can DIY trusted ADT home security in a snap. Head to ADT.com/BLU to build your system today. And to hear more about home protection and other grown-up topics, check out new episodes of Grown Up Stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 14:49Speaker 05

  Okay, chicken nugget fans, I've got huge news. The new Burger King Chicken Nuggets just dropped, and they are the crispiest, the juiciest, and the tastiest chicken nuggets ever at Burger King. Burger King heard that a lot of you didn't like the old chicken nuggets, so they got to work and reinvented them. To go along with the new chicken nuggets, a lot of the sauces were reinvented too, because better chicken nuggets deserve better sauces. We're talking new buffalo sauce, honey mustard, sweet and sour, and even a whole new option, too, the new special savory sauce, which is only available for a limited time at participating U.S. restaurants. I mean, you need to taste it all for yourself.

• 15:31Speaker 05

  This new chicken nugget, reinvented based on real feedback, is made with 100% white meat chicken and is now better than ever. You gotta try the new Burger King chicken nuggets and sauces today.

• 15:43Tracy V. Wilson?

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• 16:27Tracy V. Wilson?

  to help solve hiring challenges and find people who can help drive results. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. Get your $75 sponsored job credit today at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now, then this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.

• 17:01Holly Frey?

  Ebenezer Butterick was born in Sterling, Massachusetts on May 29, 1826. He apprenticed as a tailor starting at an early age, and then he opened his own business as a merchant tailor. So that's a tailor who makes clothes but also manages an inventory of fabric that is used for the clothes but is also offered at retail. He is frequently described as having been kind of mediocre as a tailor and not having a lot of success in that business.

• 17:28Tracy V. Wilson?

  But then in 1863, Butterick, working with his wife, Ellen Augusta Butterick, yes, there are two Ellens in this story. He did two things. He started offering standardized tissue paper patterns in multiple sizes, and he established a factory to print them in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. This was a lot more lucrative than his tailoring business had been, and he saw its potential. Butterick also had the foresight to do something the demerits had not. He patented his patterns.

• 18:00Holly Frey?

  Initially, most of his patterns were for men and boys' clothes, and he also started a periodical, although his was not a frequent one, that was the Semiannual Report of Gents Fashions, which debuted in 1865. He offered individual patterns for 25 to 50 cents, but you could also make a bulk purchase of 50 patterns for $5. The next year, he added graded size designs for women and girls, and that was when things really took off. He also started another periodical, Ladies Quarterly Report of Broadway Fashions. His women's patterns were usually for component pieces of a garment and not a full dress,

• 18:41Holly Frey?

  for example. So rather than an entire dress, a customer could purchase a bodice and a skirt separately and then combine them into a dress. One of the reasons his offerings became so popular so quickly was that he offered, what was at the time, an extremely wide size range. It was graded to fit bust lines from 28 inches to 46 inches. Butterick also innovated in the way that patterns were packaged. The Butterick Company folded the tissue patterns so they would fit snugly into a packet envelope that had that envelope flap closure, and soon that became the industry standard.

• 19:20Tracy V. Wilson?

  By the end of the 1860s, Butterick moved his pattern printing operation to a new factory location in Brooklyn, New York, and he revamped his magazine of women's fashions, calling it Metropolitan and publishing it monthly. Like Demerits magazine, this was part style information and part self advertising, but Butterick also used it to bolster his reputation through what was almost certainly false reporting of his company's success. For example, he claimed that he sold more than 1,500 patterns every day, which historians have dismissed as highly unlikely.

• 19:59Holly Frey?

  Yeah, that's a lot. In that same 1979 paper we mentioned in the first part of this two parter by historian Margaret Walsh, titled "The Democratization of Fashion: The Emergence of the Women's Dress Pattern Industry," Walsh notes how this exhibit at the exposition was a touchstone of a massive change in the way that it changed fashion for a wider array of people than would have had access to such things prior. Quote, "At mid-century, fashion, both as an indicator of financial strength and social rank and as an expression of femininity, had been the prerogative of the rich. Only the wealthy could afford to change their styles of dress frequently. But now, thanks to the mass production of paper patterns, American women and their European counterparts were able

• 20:44Holly Frey?

  to participate in a new social experience of making stylish clothes at will."

• 20:50Tracy V. Wilson?

  1876 was a big year for the Demerits. Their company had the biggest year it would ever have on the books. They sold 3 million patterns that year. But after that, things leveled off for them, even though they won several awards at the expo. Conversely, Butterick saw growth. In 1881, Ebenezer Butterick founded the Butterick Publishing Company, an international iteration of his already very busy business. The disparity between the two companies' trajectories is sometimes attributed to the fact that the Demerits didn't copyright their designs, so soon the same products were available elsewhere, whereas Butterick had his protected.

• 21:33Tracy V. Wilson?

  But the market had also had a lot of newcomers who saw the success of the Demerist and Butterick brands and also wanted to offer patterns to home sewists. Another big factor that differentiated the two was that the Demerists, in trying to create an entire brand, had kind of over diversified. They weren't associated just with patterns. Butterick was. Butterick's patterns also offered more instructions than Demerist's. But the big, big thing was that Butterick had started his own printing facility to turn out patterns. He could do it fast and he could do it in large quantities. The Demerists and other competitors on the market just didn't have that level of ownership

• 22:17Tracy V. Wilson?

  of the manufacturing process, and that hurt them.

• 22:21Holly Frey?

  One of the other competitors who started offering patterns as Butterick and Demerist were showing that it was a very viable business was James McCall. This one is a little bit frustrating in terms of the history because information on McCall is actually pretty sparse. We know he was a Scottish-born tailor who moved to New York from Glasgow in 1869. And he worked in the sewing trade in New York, first for a British company called Royal Chart that sold a pattern drafting system, and then he worked for a sewing machine company. When he went into the pattern business for himself, he too had an accompanying periodical that was called Catalogue of the Bizarre Paper Patterns.

• 23:04Holly Frey?

  He was purposely trying to gain momentum by making people think this might be an offering affiliated with Harper's Bizarre magazine, which had grown popular as a fashion publication by then. He next moved on to a new name, The Queen, though it was subtitled once again with the word bizarre as illustrating McCall's bizarre glove fitting patterns. He was, to be clear, absolutely not the only person doing this. There were a lot of magazines and pattern catalogs with the word bizarre somewhere in the title, trying to trade on the Harper's Bizarre popularity. But then finally, in 1897, it just became McCall's Magazine.

• 23:44Tracy V. Wilson?

  We mentioned in the first part of this episode that most of these patterns being distributed were actually blocks or slopers. They didn't include a seam allowance. In 1919, McCall's took the step to start printing all of the company's patterns with seam allowance included.

• 24:02Tracy V. Wilson?

  The stitching line was denoted with a dotted line on the pattern and the cutting line was a solid line. McCall died sometime at the end of the 19th century. The details are a little unclear. And at that point, his wife, who was only named in accounts as Mrs. McCall, ran the company until she sold it to a banking group.

• 24:23Holly Frey?

  Next up was Vogue Patterns, which started in 1899. Unlike other pattern companies who offered magazines to grow their names and businesses, Vogue magazine predated the pattern company. That started in 1893. And the pattern branch of Vogue's business began as a mail away service that was part of Vogue magazine. A mail in coupon was printed in the magazine that readers could fill out and mail in along with 50 cents, and then they would get a pattern back so that they could make one of the latest fashions featured in that magazine. But in 1899, the patterns became its own division with a range of patterns available for direct order.

• 25:05Tracy V. Wilson?

  The year that Vogue Pattern Service launched, Ebenezer Butterick stepped away from his work in the company that bore his name. His health had declined and he returned home to Sterling, Massachusetts to live out the remaining years of his life. He died in March of 1903, but the company continued.

• 25:24Holly Frey?

  Vogue was purchased by Conde Nast. That's the person, not the company. The company is named after him, in 1909. And five years after that, in 1914, the company sort of relaunched Vogue Patterns, this time as a standalone business, which was Vogue Pattern Company. Vogue Patterns saw rapid success, and it was the first company that had widespread department store distribution. In the mail away version of the company, Vogue had been the first to license designs from European designers, so women everywhere could make their own versions of designer clothes using designer patterns. And this is actually something that has continued through the current times.

• 26:05Holly Frey?

  Other pattern companies have done this, but Vogue has been associated with it throughout.

• 26:12Tracy V. Wilson?

  We'll talk about a newcomer to the pattern game after we hear from some of our sponsors.

• 26:20Speaker 05

  Okay, Chicken Nugget fans, I've got huge news. The new Burger King Chicken Nuggets just dropped, and they are the crispiest, the juiciest, and the tastiest chicken nuggets ever at Burger King. Burger King heard that a lot of you didn't like the old Chicken Nuggets, so they got to work and reinvented them. To go along with the new Chicken Nuggets, a lot of the sauces were reinvented too, because better Chicken Nuggets deserve better sauces. We're talking new buffalo sauce, honey mustard, sweet and sour, and even a whole new option too, the new special savory sauce, which is only available for a limited time at participating US restaurants. I mean, you need to taste it all for yourself.

• 27:03Speaker 05

  This new Chicken Nugget, reinvented based on real feedback, is made with 100% white meat chicken and is now better than ever. You gotta try the new Burger King Chicken Nuggets and sauces today.

• 27:16Tracy V. Wilson?

  For any small business owner, there's a moment when you realize the next hire could be the difference between staying busy and actually growing. The challenge is finding the right person without wasting time sorting through candidates who aren't the right fit. That's where Indeed Sponsored Jobs comes in. When workplace chaos hits and you need someone who can step in and make a difference, this is a job for Sponsored Jobs. It helps put your job in front of candidates who match the criteria that matter most to you, whether that's skills, experience, certifications, or location. And you're certainly not alone in using Indeed. Join the 3.3 million employers worldwide that use Indeed to connect with quality talent that fits their needs. That's millions of businesses turning to Indeed to help solve hiring challenges and

• 28:00Tracy V. Wilson?

  find people who can help drive results. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. Get your $75 sponsored job credit today at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now, then this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.

• 28:27Holly Frey?

  We've all done it, tumble down an internet rabbit hole trying to self diagnose. And sometimes doing our own research can leave us more anxious than informed. Your feed is packed with wellness trends telling you to cold plunge, protein max, detox, track your sleep. But what's actually real? What's exaggerated? What's just wrong? That's exactly what Health vs. Hype from the American Medical Association and iHeart Media's Ruby Studio is here to find out. Each episode, Emmy nominated science communicator Trace Dominguez, who's racked up billions of views across PBS, Discovery Channel, and YouTube, talks to doctors, influencers, and real people trying these trends.

• 29:09Holly Frey?

  Not to cancel them, not to hype them more, but to actually understand them. Because when it comes to your health, who you listen to matters. Start asking better questions and listen to Health vs. Hype on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 29:30Tracy V. Wilson?

  Guess who's back in the house? The old gays return for season two of Silver Linings, their hit podcast from iHeart's Ruby Studio in partnership with ViiV Healthcare. Just wait until you hear what hosts Robert McMillan and Jess A. have in store this time around. They strut back down memory lane navigating life, love, loss, and everything that shaped them along the way. And as usual, someone just might break into song. From leather bars to bathhouses, dance floors to drag brunch, nothing stays off limits. These are the kinds of insights that can only come from experience. So listen to your elders, honey, and discover the silver linings you can take with you. All sass, zero filter, and decades of perspective from four friends proving that queer joy

• 30:15Tracy V. Wilson?

  only gets better with age on the podcast that never gets old. Listen to Silver Linings, available on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 30:35Holly Frey?

  The 1920s were very busy for pattern companies. It was in the 1920s that pattern envelopes started getting full color illustrations of the fashions that you could make with the contents. This was another innovation that McCall's spearheaded, but within a decade, all pattern companies had adopted the practice. As designer fashion became more and more prominent in the roaring 20s, McCall's embraced it by working with high-profile designers like Elsa Scaparelli and Jean Lavin to create licensed patterns.

• 31:06Tracy V. Wilson?

  And the last of the big four, Simplicity Patterns, was founded in 1927. Joseph M. Shapiro was born in 1888 in Borsa, Russia, and had moved to the United States in 1912. He had a number of jobs over the years, but he was working for a fashion trade magazine when he decided to launch the company based on his opinion that dress patterns cost too much. At the time, the cost of a sewing pattern ranged from 45 cents to $2. Simplicity came into the market with a goal of aiming for the business of lower-income sewists. Simplicity patterns were only 15 cents.

• 31:48Tracy V. Wilson?

  This idea of making sewing as economical as possible would drive a lot of the company's initiatives after this. Shapiro later told an interview, quote, "What's the tendency of the American people in everything? In architecture and eating and living, I ask myself, it's simplicity. So I was pretty sure cheap patterns would go, but I made one mistake. 10 cents was too cheap. No one would believe they could be any good at that price. So I raised it to 15 cents and they began selling like hotcakes." Simplicity's timing entering into the market was fortuitous. When the Great Depression hit in the United States, more people than ever turned to sewing their own clothing.

• 32:30Tracy V. Wilson?

  And because Simplicity's price point was the lowest, the popularity really soared.

• 32:36Holly Frey?

  Joseph's wife, Caroline Hutchins Shapiro, is super important to this story. She was a home economist and she had a tremendous influence on the company's offerings and ethics. Because she specialized in home ec and Simplicity had been founded with a vision to empower stitchers at all economic levels, she spearheaded a new division of the company, the Education Department. This department worked with the public school system to assist with home economics curricula and even had company reps who would travel to visit schools regularly. This was great in terms of helping educators, but it was also really savvy in that it meant that the next generation of sewists and thus customers was always getting support from Simplicity.

• 33:21Holly Frey?

  So if you're one of those people who took home ec in school and had a sewing project like an apron or a basic garment as part of your schoolwork, that is thanks in part to the materials that the Simplicity Education Department provided schools with in its early years, setting the tone for home ec curricula for decades. Caroline Shapiro stayed with the company until the late 1960s, when she retired after working for Simplicity for more than 30 years.

• 33:47Tracy V. Wilson?

  In the 1940s, Simplicity started offering patterns that had been designed to use as little fabric as possible. There were also tips included for using the fabric from existing garments to make something new. According to a stat on Simplicity's website, the war years were a boon for home sewing as everybody was trying to economize. Before the start of World War II, an estimated 50% of women in the US sewed, but by the end of the war, it was more than 80%. Simplicity was not the only patterned company to meet the country's economic challenges with simpler designs that required less fabric. Vogue also shifted its design as slimmer silhouettes became more realistic

• 34:31Tracy V. Wilson?

  for the finances of sewists. When the country's financial picture grew brighter in the 1950s, though, Vogue was quick to launch new couture campaigns, including a line developed in collaboration with Christian Dior.

• 34:46Holly Frey?

  Yeah, that's the point where you get that so-called like new look that he was coming up with, which was like a very fitted, nipped-in waist with a huge skirt that was very voluminous to create a really sharp silhouette. And you, those skirts take a lot of yardage to make that beauty. So they quickly shifted gears. But that ongoing effort to appeal to a wider audience of economic levels really paid off for Simplicity. By the late 1950s, the company had offices around the world and patterns were sold in five dozen countries. The company built on that success in the early 1960s by launching the Jiffy line of patterns. And this line was designed to be approachable in every way.

• 35:30Holly Frey?

  It was inexpensive, relatively easy to sew with few pieces to cut out, and generally Jiffy patterns had low yardage requirements.

• 35:39Tracy V. Wilson?

  With Simplicity's star on the rise, Butterick made a move to stay relevant in 1961 when it purchased the Vogue Patterns License. Vogue was, and still is, the pattern company most associated with high fashion design. So this was an interesting move for Butterick to make. It sent a message that the company wasn't competing with Simplicity but was going after different sewists, that being the ones with more money. This was emphasized when the company launched pattern lines like Vogue Paris Original, Vogue Designer Original, and Vogue Couturier Design. And in its continued efforts to establish and maintain relationships with fashion designers

• 36:22Tracy V. Wilson?

  like Diane von Furstenberg, Donna Karan, and Issey Miyake.

• 36:26Holly Frey?

  Another pattern company emerged in the 1960s. That was Quixote, which was launched by Kirsten Martenson McMaster in 1967. She was born in Sweden in 1938, and she had studied fashion and pattern drafting in Europe before moving to the US when she was in her twenties. That was a move she made for her job working for Viking sewing machines. And one of her jobs with Viking was designing patterns for a newly growing sewing trend: working with knit fabrics. She eventually branched out on her own to create the Sew Knit and Stretch Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota. And then seven years after it launched, it became Quixote in 1974. Kirsten was the driving force behind Quixote until her death in 2002.

• 37:11Holly Frey?

  The company was purchased by McCall's in 2011 and continued until 2021, when McCall's stopped producing all of the garment patterns under the brand to focus just on crafts, and it has since been sunset completely.

• 37:25Tracy V. Wilson?

  By the time Quiksew had been sunset, all of the big four were part of one company. In 2001, Butterick and McCall's merged, which meant that Vogue was also part of that deal. This had been something of a survival necessity. Following the sewing boom of the 1950s and 60s, things had really dropped off as more and more women had entered the workforce. So there was just less sewing being done in most US homes. Butterick was close to going out of business when the McCall's merger happened. At the time, sewists were kind of suspicious of the deal with some concern that there would be fewer choices in the designs available if there was no competition.

• 38:07Tracy V. Wilson?

  But each company established and maintained its own clear brand. Then things happened pretty quickly in 2016 and 2017. First, in 2016, CSS Industries, which was largely a gift wrap and holiday items brand, bought McCall Pattern Company for a reported $14 million. The following year, CSS bought Simplicity Creative Group for $64 million. That seems kind of like a monopoly, but the Federal Trade Commission didn't think so. CSS was then acquired by IG Design Group in 2020 for a reported $88 million.

• 38:46Holly Frey?

  Hey, you know, we started part one. It was because the big four were being sold off from IG Design Group as IG Design Group Americas to Hillco, a liquidation company? Well, while I was working on this, DGA filed for Chapter 11 relief. In a July 3 write-up on the filing that appeared in Business Wire, it was reported, quote, "The company intends to pursue a value maximization strategy by engaging with buyers who are interested in purchasing certain of the company's business segments as a going concern, while concurrently winding down its domestically manufactured woven ribbon products business and supporting assets." So this seems, and it's all so nebulous, like it might be hinting that there could be some entity,

• 39:31Holly Frey?

  at least in discussions about possibly purchasing the pattern companies and keeping them going.

• 39:37Holly Frey?

  But that is unclear and the future remains very murky. I, as I said before, 100% expect for all of this to change in the gap between when we record and when we publish. If there's an actual development, maybe we'll do a pickup. We'll see what happens.

• 39:53Tracy V. Wilson?

  Maybe so.

• 39:56Tracy V. Wilson?

  One of the things that's troubling for all sewists is that these pattern companies are the only ones that print large scale tissue patterns. So if they're completely shuttered, smaller pattern companies that ran print jobs with them will no longer have any options.

• 40:14Holly Frey?

  Yeah. You know?

• 40:17Tracy V. Wilson?

  I just want to say, in the time between when we record this and when stuff comes out, or shortly thereafter, or whenever, if you see articles alleging that all of the pattern companies mismanaged their money and made silly decisions, just like, think about the fact that they were acquired by private equity.

• 40:38Holly Frey?

  Yeah, I mean.

• 40:40Tracy V. Wilson?

  When businesses that you love go out of business and you're like, man, what happened? And then you suddenly read articles about how they sold too many lobster dinners or whatever, a lot of times that wasn't the problem.

• 40:53Holly Frey?

  Right. And I, I mean, we could talk more about this on behind the scenes, but there is also that thing that happens in a lot of industries where some business interest will have a surge in popularity. And there will be a huge effort to move capital behind it to expand that part of your business.

• 41:12Tracy V. Wilson?

  Yep.

• 41:13Holly Frey?

  And then that business falls off and you're like, uh oh, SpaghettiOs. That's not really mismanaging money. I mean, there can be money mismanagement in there, but it's also like moving to meet the needs of a market. And then when that market vanishes or dissipates for whatever reason.

• 41:29Tracy V. Wilson?

  Yeah.

• 41:29Holly Frey?

  You have to have an exit strategy. And sometimes, unfortunately, the exit strategy is, we gotta sell this.

• 41:35Tracy V. Wilson?

  We gotta fold or, yeah, be acquired by someone.

• 41:39Holly Frey?

  Yeah. Do you have listener mail on a better note than any of that? Uh, I mean, I think it's on a better note. It's about Edwin Howard Armstrong. Okay, great. Uh, this is from our listener Ed, who writes, "Hi Holly and Tracy. I have to say that I absolutely loved your podcast on Edwin Armstrong. I have a BS in electrical engineering, and when I took my first course in radio for my undergrad, the instructor described a super heterodyne concept as the Armstrong super heterodyne. I've always wanted to know more about Armstrong, and now I have a great idea as to who Armstrong was. I'm retired from engineering now. I'm a veteran. Thank you for your service. Uh, but I still love learning about the history of engineering. My graduate diploma is in aeronautical engineering, so I'm waiting with bated breath to hear a story about a woman aeronautical engineer, or three. Uh, for our

• 42:24Holly Frey?

  other listeners, Tracy sent a reply to Ed with, uh, some suggestions of things that we've recorded. I got addicted to your show several years ago, and I love the detail that you bring to each subject. I especially love your female-focused episode, I am the father of two daughters. And even more wonderful, I agree with your views on our current state of political affairs. Please keep up the incredible work and know that my two grown daughters and I love to listen and discuss your shows and spread the word to anyone who we feel would be interested in your show, which is damn near anyone. For now, I'm enclosing pictures of my three fur daughters who are grown but live with their father, unlike their sisters on two legs. Take care and thanks again. Um, these cats are so cute.

• 43:04Holly Frey?

  There is a very, very fluffy kind of, um, buff with darker tone, color elements that looks like she might be sassafras. I love everything about it. Uh, that is, uh, Sydney, who is also known as Bubbles after the Powerpuff Girls. It's always getting her sisters into trouble. Listen, I love the Powerpuff Girls. You give me all the PPG references you want because I'm here for it. Um, and then there is a beautiful black tuxedo kitty named Pepper, who is the eldest and the biggest troublemaker and instigator of all that is mischievous.

• 43:44Holly Frey?

  And then Sterling, who is called Linky. Uh, she was sterling silver when she was born.

• 43:52Holly Frey?

  And apparently briefly resembled a sausage link when she was filling out as a kitten, which is how she got the name Linky. Linky, I hope this isn't the case. Linky looks like one of those cats that is a little bit emo. She's a little in her feelings is what it looks like based on this photo, but she could also just be having a moment of curious focus. Your babies are so beautiful, Ed. Thank you for sharing them with us. And I'm so glad that our Edwin Howard Armstrong episode was enjoyable for you. I always worry anytime I'm talking about someone or something in a field that is not one I'm super hyper knowledgeable about. Like, I try to read as much as I can and get as much foundation under my feet before I start running, but I always worry I've missed something and someone in that field

• 44:35Holly Frey?

  will be like, "You are a ding dong," which is possible, could always happen. If you would like to write to us and share your kitties or your opinions on whether or not I'm a ding dong, the answer is yes. I'm good with it. You can do that at [email protected]. You can also subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts.

• 45:02Tracy V. Wilson?

  Stuff You Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

• 45:16Holly Frey?

  A rare disease diagnosis can change your life, but it doesn't have to define your future. In season seven of Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition, host Martine Hackett continues the conversation with people living with MG, CIDP, and the broader rare disease community, exploring what comes after diagnosis through stories of hope, progress, and connection. Produced by Ruby Studio in partnership with Argenx. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 45:47Tracy V. Wilson?

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• 46:32Tracy V. Wilson?

  online degree programs designed to fit your life. Your previous education, training, and eligible experience may even help you earn college credit. At UAGC, you can take one accelerated course at a time, helping you move toward your goals in five- and six-week class formats. Visit uagc.edu today.

• 46:53Speaker 06

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• 47:21Tracy V. Wilson?

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.