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| Do You Like My Warty Pumpkin :) |
Since childhood I have had a copy of the Farmers Almanac around. There are several versions, I found this one at the check-out while grocery shopping. My Father thought "magazines" were frivilous and a waste of money so it was rare to see them in our home. This, however, was acceptable. It was full of good sense advice, weather predictions and planting phases. What more could you want?
I introduced husband to this about 5 years ago when he was first home-bound after a surgery. He was fascinated. Every day, I mean every day, he would provide the weather report, the moon phase and little tidbits of trivia. Clearly, I had made a mistake.
The little articles of various subjects provide all sorts of entertainment. This one caught my eye. It is all about sewing patterns. Until Ebenezer Butterick created multisized paper patterns clothing was not well fitted to size for the home sewists. If you had bespoke or custom pieces your fitting would likely improve.
The pattern business grew into a Quarterly publication, "Ladies Quarterly of Broadway Fashions in 1867. That evolved into a womans magazine, The Delineator. I have seen a few in antique shops and I am rather amazed at how timely they were then and now. The earliest patterns were cut from cardboard, a little difficult to fold and ship! They moved onto tissue paper but it was unmarked and a bit confusing for the home sewist. By 1890 The patterns were cut and graded and the tissue was printed with markings and directions were included.
The popularity was amazing and the business grew and grew. This little bit of information was provided by a little piece of my home, to yours. The Harris Farmer's Almanac. Check one out, you might be pleasantly surprised. No Vogue fashion, no cosmetic glossies and no diet information!
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