Paper patterns, cotton and thread
         
Mary Ethel Goetz's "New Woolco Sweaters" was a very popular pattern book on both sides of the Atlantic at the end of the Great War. Many of the designs look remarkably contemporary over 80 years later. Woolworths have been selling fashions in the UK since 1909, but until World War II rather than selling ready made clothes (other than underwear and occasional special offers) the Company specialised in clothes that you make yourself.

Woolies stores stocked a range of patterns, material, thread, scissors and needles that were very popular with mums and great value for money.

A sixpence (equivalent of 2½p) - the highest price of any item in Woolworths in the 1930s!

Woolco Needles, 3D (1.25p a packet) but 10 cents in America. They were made in Redditch.
Most of the patterns were easy to make and some have stood the test of time, looking remarkably up-to-date more than 80 years after they were first offered for sale.

Life was very different back in the 1910s, with a bigger divide between rich and poor and many homes not having the benefit of electric lighting or central heating.  There was no television and most homes didn't have a radio set or gramophone.  So people knitted and sewed in the evening or read books or magazines much more than we do today.

When Woolworths first opened they were one of the first international companies - drawing on thirty years trading experience in the United States of America and Buying expertise that covered the markets of the world.  This allowed the company to imitate some of the latest Paris fashions in their designs!

 The pattern is 87 years old and yet still quite contemporary, thanks to Mary Goetz great design,
Woolco Fasteners were also made in the UK in the 1910s and exported back to America up until World War I. At the time English Needles and Sewing Accessories were recognised to be the finest in the world, so naturally Woolworths bought British not only for the shops in the UK, but also for export to the United States of America and Canada, where the items were sold for five or ten cents.
In 1912 when our founder Frank Woolworth built the tallest building in the world in Broadway Place, New York, he updated the packaging for the sewing needles to show off.  79 needles for 10 cents, or in Britain sixpence (2½p).  The building was in America - but the early packets of needles were made in England! The Woolworth Needle Book with 79 needles for 10 cents of sixpence (2½p) was very popular with customers and remains very collectible to this day.
Du Barry Patterns from Woolworths in the 1920s and 30s. Du Barry patterns were featured in Woolworths stores in Britain and America throughout the 1920s and 30s and sold in enormous quantities.

The manufacturers came up with the great sales promotion idea of offering the patterns at a big discount to Woolies colleagues to encourage them to talk about how easy the patterns were to make with the customers.
Knitting patterns, particularly for babies were also very popular, and by the 1930s Woolies were selling both own label and supplier branded patterns, at sixpence each. Baby's first Woollies pattern was sold in Woolies (F. W. Woolworth) in the 1930s and was a big hit with customers
Woolworths own label black cotton on a jumbo reel, all for 3D (1.25p(
         
Sales of paper patterns peaked in the 1920s, but they were still very popular in the 1930s.  By the 1950s sales had started to decline, but patterns remained popular and profitable well into the 1970s.  Meanwhile, as Woolies buying power grew more ready-made garments were finding their way onto the shelves - with the finished article no more than sixpence. 
Window displays in the 1930s showed off the special buy and clearance ranges, often made of silk, that Woolies were offering on a first come first serve basis.

And meanwhile the Chairman of Pasolds, the company behind Ladybird was persuading Woolies to buy their first items from him, as you can read on another page in our Fashion Gallery at the Woolworths Virtual Museum.

 A Utility Cloth window from Woolworths of Liverpool in the early 1930s
         

Fashion Gallery Home Page

Fashion overview 1909-2004   Paper patterns, cotton and thread   Legend of the Scarlet Ladybird
Our first Ladybird items (from the 1930s Gallery)   History of the Ladybird company   
Woolworths move into fashion - 1950 to 1986   Launch of Ladybird at Woolworths   
Ladybird, Gloss and Etcetera in the 21st Century