History & culture

French tailor who patented an early chainstitch sewing machine in 1830 to make army uniforms; rioting tailors, fearing job losses, destroyed his workshop in 1831.

A wax-resist dyeing technique in which molten wax is applied to fabric to block dye from certain areas, producing intricate patterns; long practiced in Indonesia, especially Java, and recognized by UNESCO in 2009.

A method of making a garment, typically a suit, individually from a unique pattern drafted to one client's measurements, involving multiple fittings and largely hand-sewn construction.

Loose trousers gathered at the ankle, worn under a shorter skirt and popularized by Amelia Bloomer in the 1850s as a practical, controversial alternative to restrictive Victorian dress.

A Japanese tradition of patching and mending indigo cotton textiles with layered scraps, born of necessity among rural families from the Edo period into the 20th century and later admired as folk art.

German pattern and fashion magazine founded by Aenne Burda in 1950, distinctive for printing many patterns overlapping on shared sheets; it expanded into an international sewing brand and website.

A framework or padding worn under a skirt to add fullness and projection at the back, fashionable in two main phases during the 1870s and again in the mid-1880s.

One of the oldest home sewing pattern companies, founded in Massachusetts in 1863; it published patterns and the fashion magazine The Delineator, shaping American home dressmaking for over a century.