Daily AncestorDressmaker
A dressmaker made women's dresses and other clothing to order, measuring and fitting each garment to the customer.
Before ready-made clothes were common, most women's dresses were made by a dressmaker or at home. Some dressmakers ran shops with apprentices, while others sewed in their own homes or went from house to house.
Dressmaker gradually replaced the older word mantua maker during the 1800s. It was one of the skilled trades open to women, and census instructions use it as an example of a proper entry.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1880 census
Lucy Barnes, 31, Dressmaker
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Dressmaker." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/dressmaker. Last checked 2026-10-01.