I first heard of Enid Gilchrist when I saw lots of terrific hand-made children’s clothes on Tracy‘s blog.  Enid was an Australian fashion designer who published numerous sewing books in the 50’s to 70’s, all of which show you how to draft the patterns yourself.  Since then I’ve been keeping an eye out at second-hand stores and op-shops for Enid Gilchrist books.  I recently found these ones:

and these ones:

I’m really looking forward to putting the theory into practice and having a go at drafting a pattern following Enid’s instructions.  Tracy has set up an excellent blog Inspired by Enid which showcases modern clothes made from these old patterns.  It really shows that good design is timeless and what a difference fabric choices can make. 

I’ve got an extra copy of Three to Six, the pattern book on the right in the top photo.  Please comment if you’d like it and I’ll draw a name out of the hat in a day or so.