At 03:06 05/10/2007, you wrote:
Six years!?! It would have been out of style. At least, that's what I would
have claimed! :-)
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 4:06 PM
To: Historical Costume
Subject: [h-cost] Re: "repurposed" fabric...repurposing in the 1940s
Still the best book in my collection of sewing and fashion books is the
1940s home dressmakers' book by Pocket Books. This little dynamo of 100-odd
pages from a time when a Pocket Book would still fit in a pocket shows a
dozen different stitches, odd techniques, clever cheats, and gives
descriptions that are superior to any I have read elsewhere.
The highlight of the book, really, is how to make new things from old such
as the chapter on how to turn your husband's old suit into a stylish new
outfit for you.
It demonstrates how to dis-assemble the suit and lay a new pattern over the
old pieces and really is a very clever thing.
My only qualm would be the kind of sentence that must have rung out across
the world in 1946:
"Darling, I am home from 6 long years in the military and I just cannot wait
to get out of this uniform and into my good old..."
My mother remade my Dad's Royal Air Force uniforms into shorts and
shirts for my brother in the late 40's or early 50's. and my Dad was
still in the Air Force.
Thing was, he got promoted to an officer, and all his uniforms had
to be replaced. So there was all this lovely Air Force blue wool
going to waste...............................
I collect the odd sewing book, and have a lovely wartime book on how
to make do and mend clothes that have moth holes, have shrunk etc.
And I remember wool knit jumpers being unravelled, the wool washed,
and new things made.
Suzi
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