Visiting seamstresses who sew by the day find tissue-paper patterns a splendid aid, for unfortunately this class of needlewoman is usually expected to produce greater results in less time than any other maker of women's clothes. From experience, many of these workers have found it much more desirable to have each season a set of foundation patterns from which to work...
The visiting seamstress, who really was a dressmaker but not a designer, was a stock figure in middle-class homes the late 19th Century and early 20th Century. This was before the garment industry could create good quality women’s wear, so a woman either learned the skills herself or depending on this professional.
This quotation is from Individualizing Tissue-Paper Patterns (1923) from the Woman’s Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences. Such patterns were themselves a vast industry by 1900 and Mary Brooks Pickens wrote this booklet to allow a woman to get a custom fit using them. She offered this advice to the visiting seamstress and warned her not to allow her customers to offer her their own paper pattern choices. Why? Because they might have no idea what pattern would work with what fabric and, and this is only implied, become really annoying to work for. So, she wanted the custom dressmaker hold the line on her own choice of tissue patterns each year, and then alter them to fit each customer. And thus avoid a lot of poor choices being forced upon her.
