The Butterick Company produced sewing patterns used to make clothing, as well as numerous publications focused on fashion and home clothing design. The company began in 1863 with Ebenezer Butterick (1826–1903) a tailor from Sterling, Massachusetts and his wife Ellen August Pollard Butterick (1831-1871) when they invented the graded sewing pattern, which revolutionized the practice of home sewing. Previous to the invention of the graded sewing pattern, clothing patterns were made in one size only and necessitated the manual resizing of the pattern in order to fit the specifications of the wearer. The new process invented by the Buttericks provided different sizings of the same pattern, making the lives of many sewers across the nation much easier. In 1876 the Butterick Company created the magazine "Ladies Quarterly of Broadway Fashions" which was followed shortly by their monthly publication "Metropolitan." Both magazines offered fashion advice and tips as well as a way to order Butterick patterns through the mail. At the end of the nineteenth century, the company evolved into the Butterick Publishing Company with the production and sale of patterns still a main component of the business. The company was acquired by the McCall Pattern company in 2001, which provides patterns to major retailers still today.