![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clarerosehistory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/1860-pattern-sheet.jpg\" "\\"1860")
<\/a><\/dt>\nI was a consultant for the Great British Sewing Bee on BBC2, talking about early dressmaking patterns. Although we know these were on sale from the 1860s, very few tissue paper originals survive. It’s even difficult to find copies of the magazines that advertised them – but those I have seen in the British Library and elsewhere suggest that there was a real demand for patterns, with several British companies selling them in the 1870s. What do survive are pattern sheets published as part of magazines such as The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine. These\u00a0are frighteningly complex, with up to twenty different patterns printed on the same sheet using different types of lines.\u00a0The\u00a0dressmaker had to trace off the pieces, adjust them to the right size, and add seam allowances before cutting out.\u00a0The magazines also advertised\u00a0tissue paper patterns, cut to the correct size and tacked together to show the shape.\u00a0\u00a0One wonders how many\u00a0magazine readers tried these patterns once and vowed to leave dressmaking to the professionals after that…<\/p>\n
\u00a0http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/p0165nv7<\/a><\/p>\n 'Marie Antoinette' fichu to be made from the pattern sheet<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 Magazine pattern sheet, 1860 I was a consultant for the Great British Sewing Bee on BBC2, talking about early dressmaking patterns. Although we know these were on sale from the 1860s, very few tissue paper originals survive. It’s even … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clarerosehistory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/marie-antoinette-fichu.jpg\" "\\"marie")
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