Description:
Direct measuring system for drafting a pattern of a woman's bodice. Patented by Philip G. Fowler of Worcester, Massachusetts. Fowler's patent is an important, early attempt to standardize and demystify the art of tailoring in women's garments. By the middle of the 19th century, such attempts were mostly confined to the tailoring trade producing men's garments. It wouldn't be until the last quarter of the 19th century when more systems developed for fitting women's garments, making this an important early milestone of that development. "FOWLER's A.B.C. METHOD ENTERED ACCORDING TO THE ACT OF CONGRESS IN THE YEAR 1848. BY P.G. FOWLER IN THE CLERKS OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS. ANY INFRINGEMENT WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW." By 1859, Fowler is listed in Trow's New York City Directory as a "publisher of models for cutting dresses," located at #6 10th Street, close to 6th Avenue. The Phillips Library at Peabody Essex Museum has the instructions for Fowler's system, as well as a similar fold-out pattern patented in Rhode Island in 1848. Fowler's drawing is a wood engraving (an intaglio process rather than carving the design in relief), pioneered by Englishman Thomas Bewick in 1768.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2017.16 |
