Enid Gilchrist


Enid Beatrice Gilchrist OAM was an Australian fashion designer, who became well known for her numerous self-drafting sewing pattern books which were very popular in the 1950s to 1970s.
Enid studied dress design at Melbourne Technical College and during World War II worked as a dressmaker for a pattern firm. She worked with the Victorian Infant Welfare Department and the Kindergarten Union to produce a series of patterns for babies and young children. She later taught dress design at Footscray Technical College and the Emily Mcpherson College.
Enid began to make patterns using a pattern-drafting method and later joined New Idea magazine, where she published articles and patterns and produced sewing books showing clothes which people could make up from the pattern drafts.
While her books were published without dates, they can be grouped by reference to the decimalization of Australian currency in 1966, demonstrated by the price on the cover.
Earliest Publications
Publications before 1966
Publications Circa 1966
Publications Post 1966