Advance 3R patterns

 Advance introduced the 3R subseries in late 1940 or 1941.  These were marketed to teens (girls, mostly, although there was at least one boys'/unisex shop apron) and advertised as appropriate for home economics classes.

"3R" stood for "right in style, right in fit, right in price" but I assume it was also a play on "reading, [w]riting, and 'rithmetic" since they were meant for students.

The series had 5000 series numbers.  Regular Advance patterns in this year range were in the mid- to upper 2000 series, so you sometimes see 3Rs mis-dated as late 1940s even though their styling is very clearly early 1940s.

The endeavor seems to have been short lived, limited mostly to 1941.

3R skirt and jerkin set from (probably October) 1941:

 3R patterns from September 1941: 2011 (the number suggests this was an earlier release), 5037, 5038, 5039, 5040, 5041, 5042, 5043, 5044

Claire Tilden 242 and 500 - 1936

Claire Tilden 242 housedress and 500 back-wrap housedress from 1936.

This was a mail-order line and the packet design and artwork look like it might have been another nameplate by the Marian Martin/Anne Adams/sometimes American Weekly parent company. 

So far all the Claire Tildens I've found have three-digit numbers. It looks like it started with 100s in 1936 and ran through the 900s, then restarted with 100s and ran until 1942.

I see some designs that I'm convinced I've also seen as Anne Adams and Marian Martin, but I have to track those down to compare.

Claire Tilden Flickr set.