This list is in no way exhaustive, simply vendors we’ve dealt with in the past, have friends who have done business with them and had a positive experience, or sites we find interesting.
Remember caveat emptor with any online merchant.
Companies that offer sewing patterns, mostly historical, but some offer modern designs too
Pattern listing on the Curvy Sewing Collective with modern and historical pattern companies that offer plus sizes.
Regency 1795-1820:
Lynn McMasters – Hat patterns
Mantua Maker Historical Sewing Patterns
Tailor’s Guide – As of Sept 2018 their main webpage is gone.
Timely Tresses – Bonnet patterns
Wingeo – site no longer working
Romantic Era 1820s & ’30s:
Laughing Moon Mercantile – corded corset
Lynn McMasters – Hat patterns
Mantua Maker Historical Sewing Patterns
Miller’s Millinery – Bonnet & Hat Patterns
Wingeo – site no longer working
Early to Mid-Victorian/Civil War 1840-1860s:
Lynn McMasters – Hat patterns
Miller’s Millinery – Bonnet & Hat Patterns
Past Reflections Reproductions
Tailor’s Guide – As of Sept 2018 their main webpage is gone.
Wingeo – site no longer working
Bustle Era 1870-1889:
Lynn McMasters – Hat patterns
Mantua Maker Historical Sewing Patterns
Miller’s Millinery – Bonnet & Hat Patterns
Wingeo – site no longer working
Late Victorian 1890s:
Lynn McMasters – Hat patterns
Mantua Maker Historical Sewing Patterns
Vintage Pattern Lending Library
Wingeo – site no longer working
Edwardian 1900-1910:
Vintage Pattern Lending Library
Wingeo – site no longer working
20th Century:
Anne Shirley’s Wedding Dress (from Anne of Green Gables pt.3)
Vintage Pattern Lending Library
Wearing History – Tell Lauren you found her here!
Other Pattern Sites:
Antique Pattern Library – digital copies of craft pattern publications that are in the public domain
Do You Have a Favorite Pattern Shop Website That You’d Love to Share?
Send us a message using the contact form below and we’ll check it out. If it passes our “top-secret test,” we’ll be happy to post it here for the world to see. Remember to send us your personal review as well as the site address/URL so we know exactly where to look.
Thank you for these links, they are very useful.
Just a s a note, the site “Sewing Central” is no longer in use.
Made a mistake. This is the correct address for the archives.
This should take you directly to the right page, the part of the website with De Gracieuse’s archives. From there you can click “browse collection” then “year” and you’ll be able to bring up all the issues from whichever year you pick. Anyone interested in historical fashion should check this out! The fashion plates alone are a great resource, and very fun to look through.
Thanks!
There is a Dutch site that has the entire archives of the fashion magazine De Gracieuse(which is like a Dutch version of Harper’s Bazaar, Godey’s Lady’s, etc. It even has many of the same fashion plates as appeared in those publications). The archives span from 1862 to 1936, and many, many of the fashion plates are accompanied by sewing patterns. Most of the patterns are from around 1870 to the early 1900s. After that they stopped publishing patterns much. The site is all in Dutch, and it can be a bit confusing at first figuring out how the diagram labeling works. The pattern diagrams have many different pattern pieces all on top of one another to save space, which can also be confusing. Once you’re used to looking at these diagrams however you’ll find they’re really not difficult to figure out. And get this, there are literally thousands of patterns on there! And all for free! Patterns for dresses, evening gowns, bodices, skirts, coats, all kinds of mantles, chemises, petticoats, corsets, corset covers, chemisettes, nightgowns, drawers, even some hat patterns! There’s also hundreds of patterns for embroidery. For all that, it’s worth the extra effort to learn how to decipher the diagrams! So far I’ve only used some of the simpler patterns for undergarments. Since I don’t have a printer, I’ve had to trace patterns pieces directly off my phone. The patterns I’ve used so far I’ve been quite happy with. I expected I’d need a ton of alterations, because period patterns are often tiny. But the ones I’ve used have been really very good proportionally, and have been pretty much a breeze to fit. There are definitely some patterns in the archives with pieces missing or mistakes, but you can just avoid those. I’m really delighted with it overall as a source 😃 The address is geheugenvanederland.nl but I find it by doing a Google search for “Gracieuse Archives” and that gets me to the page I want. The site has a bunch of other stuff on it, art collections and such. And because it’s in Dutch, finding the part of the site with the De Gracieuse archives can be tough. By just googling “Gracieuse Archives” you can get directly to the part of the site you want 😉
found out about this site by accident. I am thrilled at the quantity of resources available here. This will make my efforts at reproduction clothing way more fun, and will upgrade the results even more. Thanks so very much. I plan to visit here often!!