Frequently Asked
Questions
Q: Why are you by appointment only?
A: We offer visits by appointment to give each guest a personal and meaningful experience with our rotating collection. The Couture Pattern Museum is entirely self-funded and volunteer-run, including the founder, and every dollar goes back into our operating costs and conservation efforts.
Unlike the majority of costume museums that are only open for special exhibitions, we’ve chosen to stay accessible year-round through scheduled educational visits. This approach allows us to manage our resources wisely and efficiently while keeping the museum open for those who truly appreciate history, couture, and fashion design.
We’d love to welcome you! To book your visit, call us at 805-303-4775, email contact@couturepatternmuseum.com, or book online here.
Q: Why Does It Cost $125 to Visit? Isn’t That High for a Museum?
A: This isn’t a traditional museum visit, it’s a private, immersive, and educational experience designed for those who appreciate fashion history and craftsmanship. During your visit, you’ll have the rare opportunity to examine the inside of a 1950s haute couture dress, gaining firsthand insight into the techniques used by the great couture houses. This kind of hands-on study is invaluable for designers, historians, and anyone passionate about fashion construction. Founding Members and the Couture Council visit for free. For non-members, we ask you to invest in your fashion education for a $125 fundraising fee.
Your visit is entirely private, you won’t be sharing the space with other visitors. After your guided tour, you’ll be treated to tea on the patio with French pastries from Renaud’s, overlooking the Santa Barbara Arts District with distant ocean views. As a thank-you for your support, you’ll receive a parting gift, and your name will be listed next to a digitized pattern in our database, with a mention on our social media. You’ll also receive one year of access to our “Upholders of Couture” membership, a $60 value, which includes behind-the-scenes content on how we reconstruct couture pieces and you will be able to access our online database.
Unlike most costume museums that are only open to the public during special exhibitions, this model allows us to remain accessible year-round. While this is a specialized experience, we are also committed to making fashion history available to the broader community. That’s why we have hosted six free fashion exhibitions at Paseo Nuevo Mall, bringing couture history to the public through 1st Thursday ArtWalk at Workzones.
As a start-up self-funded museum, every dollar from your visit goes directly into preserving and sharing these rare couture patterns, ensuring that this history remains available for future generations. This approach allows us to continue offering access to our collection year-round while maintaining the highest level of care for the pieces we preserve.
Q: Why don't you allow full pattern downloads?
A: The reason behind our decision is simple: our mission is not commercially driven. We prioritize the preservation, education, and protection of the rights of designers and pattern companies from potential exploitation. By restricting pattern downloads, we ensure that patterns are studied responsibly and for educational purposes only. Founding Members as well as participants in the Couture Creation Masterclass program have scholarly educational access to the archives. Members are required to sign a no-duplication or resale contract before receiving educational materials. For materials not created by the Couture Pattern Museum, permission will be granted by the Museum as the owner of the physical materials and does not imply permission for use by any copyright holder, any licensee, or any assignee of any property right therein. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain all necessary permissions from the copyright holder.
Q: Are you a 501(c)(3) organization?
A: The Couture Pattern Museum (CPM) is a fiscally sponsored project of Creative Visions, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports creative activists who use the arts and media to ignite social change. Our not-for-profit cause is self-funded through memberships, donations, and visits.
Contributions for the charitable purposes of Couture Pattern Museum must be made payable to “Creative Visions” only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
If you wish to make a contribution to support the charitable purposes of the Couture Pattern Museum, please donate online here, or make your donation check payable to 'Creative Visions' and include "Couture Pattern Museum" in the memo line. Please mail your donation to the following address:
Couture Pattern Museum
1525 State Street, Ste. #301
Penthouse Floor
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Contributions toward CPM’s events, exhibitions, grants, or other initiatives may be tax-deductible when processed through Creative Visions. However, memberships, digitization sponsorships, gift shop purchases, event tickets, and private fundraising or educational visits are not tax-deductible, as they involve goods, services, or other benefits.
We are committed to full transparency and can provide detailed receipts and documentation for contributions directed toward specific programs or initiatives through Creative Visions. Please consult your tax advisor regarding the deductibility of your contribution.
Our operations are fueled by a dedicated team of passionate volunteers who are committed to preserving and promoting the art and history of haute couture. Thank you for your support in advancing the mission of the Couture Pattern Museum!
Q: How can I become a Founding Member?
A: Becoming a Founding Member of the Couture Pattern Museum is an exclusive opportunity available during our initial launch period. This is the only digital program currently available that allows scholarly access to the patterns for study and learning. Please visit this link for more information on becoming a Founding Member.
Q: What other institutions have patterns and how is CPM different?
Commercial Pattern Archive: University of Rhode Island: link here
CoPA-Online and the Couture Pattern Museum (CPM) focus on different aspects of fashion pattern archives. CoPA offers a broad collection of general sewing patterns dating back to 1847. Their digital archive includes only partial illustrations taken from the fronts and backs of the pattern envelope with rough schematic drawings that were taken from the back of the envelope. Their digitization lacks detailed instructions or the full pattern scan themselves. In contrast, CPM specializes in haute couture patterns from the 1920s to the 1970s. The Couture Pattern Museum invests in advanced technology and manual labor to digitize the entire pattern, including the full size pattern pieces, ensuring detailed preservation in line with ICOM standards. Our online database presents the full pattern envelope front and back, along with any research. Our internal database has every single full sized pattern piece and their instructions. This preserves the important comprehensive details such as the instructions, fabric types, and notions. The information is stored in a specialized and secure database built specifically to house and safeguard the pattern digitization.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Doris Stein Research Center, Department of Costume and Textiles
Kevin Seligman Collection
LACMA's collection within the Doris Stein Research Center houses over 18,000 patterns and related historical items dating from the early 19th century to the late 20th century. Despite its broad scope, including patterns from major companies and additional sewing artifacts, LACMA lacks online accessibility; its patterns are not digitized, making them available only through restricted pre-approved in-person visits. This limits its utility for remote, non-academic users compared to CPM's readily accessible digital archives.
Q: Why don't you donate your patterns to an existing collection?
The Couture Pattern Museum is dedicated to more than just the academic context of couture patterns; we actively engage the public through fashion exhibitions and provide innovative access to our collections. Unlike many traditional academic and publically funded museums, we have observed significant limitations in their approach to digitization and accessibility. Many such institutions do not digitize their collections comprehensively, and some do not offer digital or physical access at all. At our museum, we prioritize the complete digital preservation of each pattern, which not only ensures that our collection can be accessed by researchers and students worldwide but also protects it against potential loss from natural disasters. This approach allows us to offer a unique educational resource that adapts to the needs of a diverse audience, from seasoned designers to fashion enthusiasts and scholars. Moreover, our collection is highly curated, containing some of the most historic and significant couture patterns ever published that are not found in any other pattern archive in the world. This makes it a unique and invaluable resource that would lose its contextual integrity if merged with broader, less specialized collections. Maintaining our independent status allows us to focus on the specific needs and interests of our community, ensuring that these important cultural artifacts are preserved in the most thoughtful and impactful way possible.
Q: What makes your Museum unique?
A: The Couture Pattern Museum stands out for several reasons:
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Special Focus: We concentrate solely on historically significant haute couture or designer patterns dating back to the 1920s. Our collection focuses primarily on the "golden age of couture." During the 1940s and 1950s, haute couture fashion created by renowned designers and fashion houses experienced its pinnacle of creativity, craftsmanship, and influence.
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Unique Collection: We boast the most extensive collection of haute couture patterns in the world. Some of these patterns are so rare that they might be the last copies left on Earth and they do not exist in any other centralized archive in the world.
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Comparison: Unlike other pattern archives that only hold a few designer patterns among their sewing pattern collections, our focus is primarily on these designer pieces during a specific era.
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Digitization: We are the only museum actively working to digitize our collection. This includes the pattern itself in full size, the instructions, the pattern cover, and the back envelope. The patterns that have been digitized have been cataloged in our online database. (Cover only).
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Contextual Exhibits: Our exhibits are designed to provide the cultural context in which these patterns existed, offering a deeper understanding of each piece.
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Atelier Service: Our teaching atelier brings these designs back to life to display during exhibitions, adding a dynamic and interactive element to our museum.
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Accessibility: We offer worldwide accessibility to authorized, historically significant haute couture patterns for educational study to our Founding Members and Couture Sewing Masterclass students.
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Community and Education: We foster a vibrant community focused on learning and appreciation of couture. Through our exhibitions, active social media presence, Founders Circle, blog readership, and free couture forum, we work to share knowledge and inspire discussions around the world of haute couture.
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Events and Workshops: We regularly host various events, monthly virtual gatherings, and workshops, offering hands-on experiences and deeper dives into the art and history of haute couture.
Q: What is the mission of the Couture Pattern Museum?
The mission of the Couture Pattern Museum is to preserve, digitize, and share an exquisite collection of haute couture patterns from the golden age of couture. We educate and inspire students, hobbyists, designers, researchers, and the general public by providing access to meticulously curated exhibitions and innovative digital archives, cultural events, and educational material. We are committed to fostering the appreciation for hand craftsmanship and the historical significance of couture fashion.
Q: Can I visit your museum?
A: Yes, you can visit us, but we kindly request that you book an appointment online. Due to limited funding, we rely on volunteer staff, including the Founder, and need to schedule appointments to ensure that someone is available to assist you. This helps us make the most efficient use of our resources and provide you with the best possible experience. Please be aware that when you visit our museum, you will see our current rotating exhibits; we do not display our entire collection for general browsing. If you are interested in researching or examining a specific pattern, please inform us prior to your visit so we can accommodate your request. This allows us to prepare and ensure you have the best possible experience.
Q: Where do you keep the collection?
A: After the Los Angeles, Malibu, and Pacific Palisades fires of 2025, we moved our digitized collection off-site to a secure, temperature-controlled facility outside of fire and tsunami zones. The physical patterns are carefully stored in acid-free archival materials to ensure their long-term preservation.
For more specific information regarding visiting the museum, appointments, or upcoming events, please visit our website or contact us directly through our contact page. We look forward to welcoming you to the Couture Pattern Museum and providing you with an enriching experience.