Enid Gilchrist

Who was 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.