Many women's magazines carried patterns that home sewers could write in to request. Vogue maintained one of the largest services, by 1915 carrying patterns for suits, day dresses, coats, evening frocks, evening cloaks, blouses, lingerie, sleepwear, and collections of three to six different sleeve or collar styles combined in one set.(30) Good Housekeeping also had a pattern service, although on a smaller scale than Vogue, and it also had a shopping service for out-of-town readers [fig. 83]. The editors featured a selection of finished and "semi-made" dresses from New York shops, which readers could order through the magazine. Although no shop or manufacturer names were listed, the guarantee of New York's Fifth Avenue was perceived as an indicator of quality and style. The April 1929 issue shows fifteen dresses and ensembles over three pages, including sportswear and models for day and afternoon. A sleeveless, partially made, printed batiste dress was priced at $2.95, a polka-dot silk day dress at $15, and a two-piece checked silk dress with a suede belt at $35. The Ladies' Home Journal boasted in 1940 that "Journal readers want high fashion," offering as evidence that "226,706 readers ordered a pattern for a John-Frederics hat and handbag from a recent issue."(31)

Purchasing cut-out or partially made garments to sew at home was possible through other sources in addition to women's magazines. The Costume and Textile Department library at the Museum of Art, RISD, contains two catalogues from New York companies, Berth Roberts and Fifth Avenue Modes, who sold semi-made dresses by mail order.(32) The clothes were called "semi-finished" or"finish-at-home" fashions. The garments were said to be "cut-to-measure," meaning individually cut to the measurements sent in by the customer, as opposed to being cut to a standard size. All the detail sewing was done by the manufacturer, which generally meant that collars and cuffs, pleats, tucks, decorative stitching, multiple rows of gathering -almost anything other than straight seams -were already in place when the home sewer received the kit [fig. 84]. The purchaser was assured that "since all the difficult sewing is done in our Fifth Avenue shop, by the most skilled men-tailors, a ‘Finish-at-Home" garment never looks ‘home-made."(33) Depending on the model, prices averaged half that of a comparable "Budget" or "Moderate" ready-to-wear dress at the time. Both catalogues had back sections with a few pages of accessories, blouses, lingerie, and some dresses available as ready-to-wear. The Berth Robert publication included a finished maid's uniform and apron (along with a few summer menus), which raises some questions as to the social class of the market targeted by the firm.

In examining the dressmaking business of Anna and Laura Tirocchi, it is important to understand the context of both the Providence microcosm and the larger fashion world. The Tirocchi sisters were not the only dressmakers in Providence and may not have been either the most successful or the best. The evidence suggests that they were also not the only dressmakers to move from the made-to-order to the ready-made world. The Providence City Directory for 1911, the first year in which the sisters are listed under the heading "Dressmakers," filled eight and one half columns over five pages with the names of other dressmakers. This is in addition to listings for "Cloaks and Suits," "Clothing Dealers," "Clothing -Retail," "Department Stores," and "Dry Goods." As the nature of the clothing business in the United States changed, the number of dressmakers dropped, while listings for "Clothing Dealers - Retail' increased. By 1937, separate listings were required for "Men's and Boys' and "Women's and Misses' clothing.