Here’s a modern living-dining area with hanging buffet table, and all the upholstery and curtaining is from Donald Brothers, the furniture by Gordon Andrews, and the painting by Frank Hodgkinson. The photograph itself was taken by Max Dupain. All those names together, that’s impressive!

In this room, the desk and goat’s head sculpture are by Gordon Andrews, the chairs by Bill Lucas, the table by Mathieu Mategot, and the painting by Rachel Roxburgh.

A cottage renovation by interior designer Marion Hall Best, ‘one of Australia’s most important and influential 20th century interior designers’. Sofas and coffee table made by E. A. Moulen, iron chair by Bill Lucas, more Donald Brothers upholstery, the mural on the wall by Dora Sweetapple (Hall Best’s sister), and the paintings by Michael Kmit.

Information on the designers here seems to be missing. I love the purple sofa and chairs.

Danish style modernist chair and sideboard/buffet. And that deep deep turquoise carpet. I don’t think it’s Feltex this time.

Kitchen advertisement for Tygan wallpapers. This is one … interesting … kitchen. Tartan wallpaper! Speckled lino floor! Dark green cupboards! Troughton and Young modernist light fittings! Floral curtains! It’s like a little bit of every style popular in the 50s all in the one room.

This is an ad for one of the Staffordshire pottery studios. I can’t recall which one. Casual dining for the well-off in 1958. They’ll come in from a game of tennis any second now.

Advertisement for Vynex upholstery. Vinyl-coated chairs aren’t very nice in the Australian summer. Those women are actually stuck to the chairs.

Knitting pattern – 3.5mb PDF

It’s a Leach-Way catalogue, a British company that seems to have been making patterns from the 1930s. You can find them now and then on eBay. All these patterns are for bust size 40″ to 50″, about a 14-24 in today’s clothing sizes. And they are about 5281% more flattering and lovely than nearly everything on offer in the plus-size market today, even in modern pattern catalogues. There are plenty of dresses, with complementary suits, blouses, skirts and coats. If you’re handy with patterns it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out how to construct them, especially if you have a few vintage patterns already. You can always trace and scale up a vintage pattern, too. Here’s a very useful tutorial: How to re-size a pattern.

I’ve put the whole catalogue into a PDF, it’s 27MB. A few pages are a little blurry on one corner or tilted off-center – sorry about that, but the disintegrating condition of the catalogue made it hard to scan properly. Download it here: Leach-Way Outsize pattern catalogue.

First, February. A full-skirted dress with a wrap-style bodice; a girl’s cap-sleeve frock; a sleeveless tennis dress.

Next, March.Interesting foldover-sweetheart neckline dress with pleated detailing on the front; frock with gathered panel bodice and a-line skirt; girl’s pinafore and blouse.

May! An autumn suit-dress with hip pockets and angular raglan sleeves; blouse with winged collar; A-line skirt; and gathered-shoulder bed jacket.

June brings some very stylish outfits for winter: a straight-skirted frock with layered hip pockets and kimono sleeves (accessorised with leopard muff!); a very full-skirted party frock with raglan cap sleeves; a full pleated skirt; a young girl’s double-breasted coat dress.

July brings sportswear: two styles of pencil-skirted walking suits with plain pocket decoration; a boy’s short pants suit; a toddler’s jumpsuit.

August presents frocks to make for spring: a 3/4 sleeved shirtdress; a turnup-cuffed short sleeved frock with a combined rollover and pleated sweetheart neckline; and a girl’s shirtdress.

September spring fling! A kimono cap-sleeved spring frock with crossover bodice; a suit dress with a wide spread collar, short sleeves and a pleated full skirt; and a girl’s pinafore dress.

October is time to start making your frocks for summer. Here we have a kimono cap sleeve dress with a twisted bodice detail and full circle skirt; a sleeveless dress with a very wide collar that almost forms cap sleeves; and a girl’s playsuit.

November has a sundress collection: a shirtwaist dress with a full gathered skirt; a frock with a camisole bodice with asymmetrical bodice buttoning and large pockets; a summer dress with matching cropped jacket and off-centre buttons on the skirt; and a girl’s puff-sleeve frock.

December, and dresses just perfect for wearing to Christmas events: A full-skirted dress with a pleated-detail bodice and scalloped trim; a circle skirt dress with short sleeves and a modest sweetheart neckline; two girl’s dresses – one more formal, the other a play dress.

There are lots of great period fashion hints to be had, including on how to accessorise.

The Australian National Library has a good collection of AHJs, from 1904 through to 1982, however is missing all the 1970s issues. Archive.org has some digitised issues from 1949-1952: Australian Home Journal.