Make do and mend

I’ve always loved 1940's fashion, actually I think there’s something about that whole era, during and post war, people over-coming adversity and being brought together in a way we probably haven’t experienced since. The war and post war years had a significant effect on fashion; the Paris fashion houses had little influence during the war although that soon returned after it was over. Rationing existed until 1952, and that included clothes and fabric, so women had to rely on clothes they already had, mending them or changing them, their rations and, for some, their uniforms. Limited resources meant full skirts were not an option. Even so the silhouette of the 1940s is feminine and graceful, even those strong shoulder lines don’t seem to sharp when teemed with that cinched in waist and figure hugging skirts.

I’ve been dabbling in making vintage inspired clothing for a while now, with my kitchen wear, and 1950’s skirts, but now I’d like to take that further. I’m starting to produce a fuller range of vintage inspired clothing (I  say vintage inspired as I to me something is only truly vintage if it actually comes from that period).
I’m starting with a 1940's day dress design, it’s not quite done yet, but I thought I’d share my progress….

In the true spirit of make do and mend, the fabic is actually from some sheets I spotted at a car boot sale.

It still needs fastenings put in at the back, hemming and cuffs on the short sleeves, and possibly some button detail, but I’m still thinking on that.

Next up I have some cherry printed fabric that’s just crying out to be made into a classic 1950s day dress, I’ve already made the pattern, so hopefully that’ll be featuring on here soon too.

To find out more about 1940s clothing and rationing, I found this site to be very interesting, she even includes the original text for rationing books.