Figure 1.--This edition of "Weldon's Home Dressmaker" was published in the early 1920s, but unfortunately was not dated. We would guess about 1922. It was completely devoted to boys' fashions. This inside cover page shows many of the garments shown in the issue with patterns available from the publisher.

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.

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Created: September 12, 1999
Last updated: September 12, 2002