Figure 1.--These fashions were from the early 1920s, we believe 1922. The two sailor suits were for boys up to 8-10 yeas of age. The two short pants suits were for boys up to 14 years.

Two sailor suits were made in sizes from 2-10 years of age. The younger boy style (2-8 years) has a white middy blouse worn with colored shorts. The older boy style (4-10 years) has matching colored middy blouse and shorts. Of course as these were patterns, the mother could chose the material and the color.

Weldon's

Weldon's appears to have been a major supplier of pattrns to British mothers. We do not know when the company bergan operating. We have an issue of Weldon's Home Dressmaker devoted entirely to boys' clothing. It is undated, but is ussue N°248 (figure 1). It looks to us like about 1922. These pattern bookles were published by Weldon's Ladies Journal in Britain and Canada and provided advice, fiction, household hints, and fashion news to women. One of the services the magazine provided to its subscribers was the inclusion of a fashion portfolio that illustrated all of the new pattern releases--and a set of free sewing patterns. One reviewer maintains that "The Weldon patterns are some of the most stylish of their era." A British homemaker in the 1920s, however, recalls, "We always used Weldon's paper patterns for cutting out, and we had one for almost anything. They were very fragile and had to be used carefully, using pin holes that had been used before. When Woolworth's opened in Leigh, we were able to buy Butterick patterns which were more up to date. We are unsure just when Weldon's was first published, but we have noted issues in the 1890s-30s.

Garments

There are two sailor suits in the illustrations here. They are styled quite similarly. The age range is different, but overlapping. Two sailor suits were made in sizes from 2-10 years of age. The younger boy style (2-8 years) has a white middy blouse worn with colored shorts. The older boy style (4-10 years) has matching colored middy blouse and shorts. Of course as these were patterns, the mother could chose the material and the color.

Sailor suit: 61489

On left is a boy's sailor suit pattern number 61489. The pattern is for a boy from 4-10 years of age. First the sailor suit is colored. From the illustration it is light colored (I guess light blue or perhaps grey, but this was up to the mother when she bought the material to make the pattern. Next the middy blouse is long sleeve and billows out so it is probably designed for short trousers that button to either an underwaist. Notice the blouse does not have a cuff or if it is a cuff the cuff lacks the more characteristic striping. The middy blouse does have a breast pocket. The front ties are in a bow. The shorts are knee length but lack any ornamental buttons. The suit is pictured with heavy turn-over-top knee socks and modern low-cut looking tie shoes. I am uncertain how to describe the hair cut but it is not the longish style, but more close cropped of children attending school.

Sailor suit: 64966

At the bottom is pattern number 64865, a sailor suit for a younger boy. The pattern is for a boy from 2-8 years of age. The boy has longish hair (pre school age), The sailor blouse appears to be worn loosely at the bottom. The blouse probably buttons to a waist. The colored short trousers appear to match the middy blouse cuffs. The child wears 3/4 length white socks and button shoes with spat like tops.

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Created: September 13, 2002
Last updated: September 13, 2002