So much style and history… in a Morrison’s bag

I thought you might like a look in more detail at that Ebay haul I won in July.

morrisons bag of patterns

Their arrival was a little ungainly to say the least. Not damaged in any way but clearly hurriedly bundled and tied up in… a Morrison’s bag. Not that there’s anything wrong with Morrison’s. But I did have a moment of OMG have I just bought a sack full of rubbish?! Surely these antique patterns deserved a carriage with a little more style!

I gingerly untied the knotted handles. Actually that’s a lie. I completely tore the bag apart because I couldn’t wait a minute more. Was a bit whiffy to say the least! But I can totally forgive the smell, the packaging and the wait.

I think I am still gobsmacked.

For starters, almost all of them are my bust size which means the only alterations will be to the waist and hip. So much less faffing. Even the few that are too small will be worth the adjustments. And I tell no lies when I say that each and every one was a doozy. Most of them unused and uncut.

The first little beauty that caught my eye was this cut out cover of Home Notes. A delight in itself but what was the chance of the patterns for these beauties being inside?

home notes 1939 coverEvery little lovely chance. I had guessed 1940s by the styling but in fact this unused and perfectly preserved pattern is nicely dated October 7th 1939:

four frocks tissue 1939

Love the bit about: “Other sizes… obtainable FREE on application”. Can you imagine that happening nowadays?

I can’t find dates on most of the patterns but all are truly vintage and very beautiful. This is the first I’ve heard of Economy Design patterns. And I feel pretty damned lucky to have landed these lovelies:

Economy design patterns 161, 197, 198
Economy design patterns 161, 197, 198

Next up is a more familiar name, Simplicity. These stylish little numbers have all their pieces in tact, despite the damage to the envelopes. In fact the one on the right had some very interesting accompanying material!

simplicity patterns 3979, 4494, 8488
Simplicity patterns 3979, 4494, 8488

Whoever Mrs Poole was – the name on most of the mail order pattern envelopes – she was a lady of very fine taste with impeccable organisational skills. In the envelope with Simplicity 8488 (above right) there was this cutting:

simplicity suit cuttingGreat to see these vintage patterns in ‘real life’ photos. And it makes me love the ensemble even more! Also inside the envelope (from Readers Digest) was each copied piece of the pattern, traced and labelled with precision onto a 1960s edition of the Daily Express. This is one of the reasons that all these patterns are in such great condition and seemingly unused. Mrs Poole has dutifully copied them and kept the originals factory folded. This has given me a fine source of entertainment too, reading all the snippets of the papers. This one quite topical: “Billie Holmes, 24 year old Hull engineer, won the first Olympic cycling road race trial yesterday – by ONE inch. And this victory, over 96 miles near Chesham, Buckinghamshire, strengthens his claim for Rome spot……”

1960 olympic reference

Thank you Mrs P.

Leach Way Patterns is a new one on me too. Any one heard of these? The dress pattern was still in it’s original mail order envelope which is date stamped 1949, so I might be inclined to date the coat and the suit around that time too. Needless to say, all three in perfect condition.

Leach way patterns, 12536, 12375, 12963
Leach way patterns 12375, 12536, 12963

Weldons is a name I recognise. I have a couple in my collection already and I love how they are always so incredibly stylish and yet a little bit quirky.

Weldons patterns 143 and 151
Weldons patterns 143 and 151

Now I am assuming ‘Womans Day’ was a womans magazine and this was a supplement… correct me if I’m wrong:

womans day gift book
womans day gift book

But even better still, than this cheeky little gift book, the blouses featured on the cover and in centre spread are an exclusive Norman Hartnell pattern and all the appropriate pieces are present and correct in this gorgeous little pattern envelope:

Normal Hartnell blouse patterns
Normal Hartnell blouse patterns

I love this 40s (?) McCalls suit. It is so reminiscent of the suits my grandma used to wear:

McCall 6780
McCall 6780

And who could resist running up a few slips and bloomers for under their vintage dresses?

Style 4469 slips and bloomers
Style 4469 slips and bloomers

Woman’s Realm was defo one of my mum’s reads. So these conjure up a bit of nostalgia. I love the first dress. It’s numbered WR.1. I wonder if that is the first ever dress pattern issued by Woman’s Realm? The middle one is far too small for me in any case but the wedding dress with a few adjustments, I’m sure would be really flattering. I do like an empire waistline.

Womans realm patterns
Womans Realm patterns

Here’s a classy Dior number from Woman’s Journal:

Womans Journal Dior pattern
Womans Journal Dior pattern

There’s a couple of other great coat patterns too. One from Odhams and the other from Woman’s Own magazine. I am thinking of making a coat. Just thinking, for now!!

Odhams and Woman's Own coat patterns
Odhams and Woman’s Own coat patterns

I think Mrs P was too as there were various cuttings of coat images too:

coat newspaper cuttingIt’s amazing that all the pieces seem to be present for these Du Barry patterns. Whatever their pattern envelopes were made of they certainly disintegrate in a big brittlesome way.  But look how Mrs P (I presume) has lovingly recreated the image herself. Don’t you just love the sharpness of these suits and frocks?

Du Barry patterns
Du Barry patterns

I do like a shirtwaist dress and was delighted to find this one from Woman’s Weekly in the bundle. Woman’s Weekly was another of my mum’s reads. I distinctly remember the pink header and the elongated type on the cover:

Woman's Weekly B170
Woman’s Weekly B170

Here’s a smart little dress suit from The People. One day, one day!:

The People 794
The People 794

There was one little girls pattern included in the bundle. I would love my youngest daughter to wear little vintage dresses but I think there is some chance and no chance of that ever happening 🙁

Butterick 9161
Butterick 9161

Most of the other patterns were from Woman magazine. Another of the larger format mags if I rightly remember. And what a fine selection we have here:

Woman patterns
Woman patterns

And imagine how excited I got when this one jumped out at me:

Woman Hardy Amies exclusive pattern
Woman Hardy Amies exclusive pattern

With all supporting cuttings once again:

Hardy Amies cutting

I love the collar and the buttoned hip pockets. Not to mention the self covered buttons all the ways down, ooo… and the self covered belt. How amazing would that be?!
Woman cover

I am soooo making that Hardy Amies number!

And this wrap dress from Woman looks so much more inspirational in the mag too:

Woman 479 wrap dress
Woman 479 wrap dress

wrap dress mag cutting

And, if ever I am going to make a pair of ‘Trews’, it is going to be this pair! I love that they are called ‘trews’. I thought that was a term only used and made up by my mum!

Woman p132 Trews
Woman p132 Trews

Apart from the masses of cuttings that I still have to sift through – believe me, there are stacks of pattern pieces cut out from really old newspapers – the above are without edits, the most amazing collection of patterns ever. Not one duff one among them. Well…. there was this strange one…

Woman p131 hats bed jackets and duck
Woman p131 bed-jacket, bolero, hats and duck

…which has to win the prize of most random pattern ever!!

39 Replies to “So much style and history… in a Morrison’s bag”

  1. OMG! What a treasure trove! The patterns are just wonderful, I really love the coats and that last pattern, I’ve got to have one of hats, fabulous 🙂

  2. My oh my, oh my!!! What absolutely stunning patterns, you scored big time here…and all the patterns are complete with extra goodies included! And mostly your bust size! It’s like a a dream come true…well done for spotting the listing and going for it ;o)

  3. holy crap! What a haul!!!! SERIOUSLY….I LOVE economy design patterns (from the same company as Style and Style Prints)…you’ve got some of the best British patterns there are….thanks for sharing these lovelies!

  4. Well done on such a haul. Here Down Under “doozy” has quite the opposite connotation, so I started out wondering why you were being enthusiastic about something if it was such a bad deal. But, no, it’s just another of our linguistic oddities.

    As to the patterns, thanks so much for sharing; and aren’t they wonderful? I’m quite smitten by the Weldons coat pattern.

    1. ha ha… I’m always amazed how words translate and often mean the opposite. Should have used ‘humdinger!’ I totally agree, those Weldons coats would be amazing!

  5. Oh, what a treasure trove! And, yes, “Woman’s Day” was (still is?) a magazine. I subscribed to it for a bit, when I was in college and desperate to receive anything, anything at all in my mailbox. I think I subscribed until the mid 1980s. Very “good little wife and mother” sort of magazine. They did feature excellent needlework patterns, and the recipes were delicious.

  6. Lovely, lovely patterns! You’re going to have so much fun.
    Perhaps the eBay seller would benefit from a little developmental feedback about suitable packaging? Another buyer would easily have been rather cross about that.

    1. I think you might be right Mhairi. Though they weren’t damaged in any way. The bag was in a box which kept them safe. I just thought it was a bit ‘disrespectful’ !!! But that’s because I am so in love with them!

  7. Gorgeous stuff, and so cool to see patterns fro companies I’ve not heard of or seen before. That Mrs Poole, now we all want to know about her and her life. She mus have been very smartly dressed!!

  8. Oh my goodness, what a stash! Thank you for sharing (even though I am positively squirming with envy!). And they have a back story, that is the really great bit. Looking forward to seeing them made up.

  9. Hey Janene, it was so lovely to bump into you the other day! Thank you so much for the drink – a nice surprise when I went up to pay.

    This haul is absolutely amazing – especially the Hardy Amies dress, I love it! xx

    1. Thanks Justine. I think they pop up when you are least expecting them to… and when you have the least amount of disposable cash! I have found some lovely ones on Etsy.com too in the past. 🙂

  10. WOW! Quite the haul! I absolutely ADORE those two Weldon’s patterns, and the Hardy Amies dress…. wow… beautiful!! I am only a little jealous because I know you’ll definitely put all these lovelies to good use, and they couldn’t have found a more deserving home ^__^

  11. Hi, just found your blog via we sew retro. What a lucky find of patterns. I have Simplicity 8488 and made it for a girl in a play at our local high school. Wish I had a picture! She looked so nice! I made it out of dark green corduroy and made a silky leopard print blouse. She wore. It with a leopard pillbox shaped hat. The high waist fit her to a tee!

    Women’s Day is a US magazine still around today tho without patterns! Keep on sewing!

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