Crochet University - Alice Brooks

Alice Brooks

Alice Brooks is a fictitious name listed with mail order patterns in newspapers starting in the 1930's. The mail order company felt they needed to have a “pattern designer” listed with the sales information to add a personal touch if they wanted the patterns to sell. These listings appeared as a “reader service feature”, and were not considered an advertisement or a column in the paper. All you needed to do was send in a small amount of money to the address listed and get back the full-sized pattern of your choice. Alice Brooks patterns were listed in the needlework patterns section using a New York City address. In reality, Alice Brooks did not exist and people ordering the patterns were not aware she was not the designer. In fact, the patterns with her name on them are still referred to as “Alice Brooks patterns”.

Household Arts, Inc., was incorporated in September 1933 and started listing the Alice Brooks needlework patterns in November 1933. The line of patterns included everything from slippers, potholders, doilies and afghans to crochet ponchos, hats, scarves and more.  This line of patterns dissolved in March 1982, with an almost 50 year run under the Alice Brooks needlework byline. During this time there were several different addresses to purchase the patterns, all being in New York City. It was not uncommon during the run of the Alice Brooks patterns to see the same “reader service feature” two or three times on the same newspaper page, each with a different address to look unique.