Mining the Archive: An Historical Study of Madame Weigel’s Paper Patterns and Their Relationship to the Fashion and Clothing Needs of Colonial Australasia during the Period 1877 to 1910

Abstract

This thesis focused on the use of paper patterns for home dressmaking in colonial Australasia, and the pioneer of paper pattern manufacturing, Madame Weigel. Her pattern series, catalogue, and fashion journal were examined, and an investigative approach taken to deconstruct this archive. This established an evidential data set of paper patterns for the period from 1878 to 1910, providing an important new resource for the identification and dating of extant fashion and clothing artefacts from late nineteenth century Australasia. Using mainly primary resources, comparisons were drawn between Madame Weigel’s patterns and those produced by overseas manufacturers. As Madame Weigel drew on her own international background, she passed such influences on to her Australasian customers through her patterns and travelogues, published in her journal. Madame Weigel’s transnational experience, it is argued, influenced her publications, in turn disseminating the global view of fashion to her customers. Madame Weigel’s adaptive strategies were argued as necessarily derivative of overseas trends and influences. Within the global context of transnational fashion trends, Madame Weigel’s empathy with her antipodean location was apparent. The asynchronicity of the antipodean calendar, climate, and seasons was fundamental to her work, set in a time when adaptation was resisted and northern hemisphere influences still strong. Results showed that Weigel’s pattern series supported both high fashion garments and everyday clothing. Even though women were found to be sewing primarily for themselves and their daughters during this period, Madame Weigel’s pattern range was inclusive of all family members across the lifecycle. New, empirical sizing information revealed how women’s patterns increased in size over seven decades. A mixed method approach drew on material culture, everyday history, and transnational studies to investigate the context and meaning of Madame Weigel’s business and impact.