Sizing of the clothing in Murray and Koster books

Bust size for a 'younger woman' in the Murray and Koster books appears to have been about 34 inches, with occasional variations by a couple of inches.  Nowadays the average dress size in the UK is size 16 - which varies depending on the manufacturer, but is about 41 inches.  Larger, older, women were catered for in the books by a few patterns in 38 to 40 inch patterns.  These were often clearly less fashionable, although the captions to the pictures often describe them as 'flattering', 'charming' or 'becoming'.

Younger woman's version

the same cardigan, for the 'older' woman

The fact that almost all patterns came in only one size was a revelation to me - being used to a range of sizes in knitting patterns.  I was surprised that books could be sold that only catered for certain sizes of people.  Why was this?  There may have been a greater level of knowledge, so that women could scale up a pattern to another size.  It may also have been that a letter to the pattern publisher would elicit the information required.  On the other hand, perhaps that was that young women really were a more uniform size than today, because of differences of diet and nutrition.

Knitting for All - Illustrated October 1941

In a couple of the books a cardigan, or even a dress, is duplicated in two sizes, as 'mother' and 'daughter' sizes, but in completely different patterns, and there are sometimes more than one size for a child's jumper - using the standard practice of showing different instructions in brackets.  There are also occasional versions of the same mens' jumper in two sizes, for 'father' and 'son'.

Most of the mens' clothing is made for 38 inch chest, with occasional patterns in larger sizes.  For example: in Knitting for All (1941) we have a 'Large Size Pullover - designed for the big man', which is designed for the 'six-foot man with a 44-in. chest.'  This reminds us that the average height for a man was less during the war than it is now, and fewer men would have reached 6 foot.  The caption to the bottom of the photo notes that the 'measurements will serve as a basis for all big men's knitted garments. For instance, you could knit it in one of the ribs on page 135'.

The books show several examples of different stitches for each garment, allowing the knitter to ring the changes on a pattern.

It is also interesting to note that some garments are for 'teens, with occasional reference to the fact that girls of this age can be a bit difficult about their clothing - something that must have been a trial for anyone knitting for them during the war.