Imported custom-made clothes were usually beyond the financial reach of the average middle-class American woman of a century ago and store-bought garments were often of inferior quality. This left many women with the options of making their own clothes or hiring a seamstress.brWhile a number of economy-minded women did sew simple housedresses, and clothing for their children, many took favorite fashion plates to a dressmaker who would often consult patterns in a magazine such as iThe Voice of Fashioni. This book, compiled by costume authority Kristina Harris, painstakingly reprints a rich selection of scaled dressmakers' patterns of the 1890s, taken from rare issues of that popular, late-19th century dressmaker's journal. Featuring such fashion elements as leg-o'-mutton sleeves, high-collared necklines, long skirts, and pinched waistlines, the collection includes nearly 500 patterns and illustrations detailing 50 garments for women. Every wardrobe necessity for the Victorian lady is co