1950s Fabrics

This is a photograph of my mother, Janice, taken on her school allotment in 1959.

Here she talks about this photograph and memories of her mother Edith's interest in dressmaking:

'My mum made this skirt I am wearing. She had a Singer sewing machine, it used to have a treadle but then it was made electric. The skirt had bows and ribbons and I used to wear a white blouse with it, it was my summer uniform. We could wear our own summer skirts, we didn't have many clothes, in those days they were more expensive.'

1950s aprons from my handmade clothes collection. 

Dress Pattern Book

A book I have made using delicate papers from an old dress pattern, bound together using the Japanese stab stitch technique.

The flowers are from the 1940s and handmade using felt, wire and embroidery thread. They would have been made to adorn a lapel, dress or hat.

Buttons for shirts

The Autumnal Dress

This dress was made in the 1940s, it has been handmade and has a simple utility style. The cut
and colour of the fabric reminds me of autumn, especially the beautiful leaf shaped neckline.
For a wartime dress the attention detail is immaculate, even the arrow head at the darts has been carefully stitched. Arrow heads were used as decorative strengthening, neatening the awkward corners of garments. I have found the instructions for sewing them in The Big Book of Needlecraft by Annie S. Paterson, 1935:

Patterns in the post

I found J H Markham's clothes patterns in The Salvation Army charity shop in Blackpool a couple of years ago. They are from the 60s and 70s and include the following: a button through dress, a trouser suit, three skirts and a pinafore dress. They were ordered through the post from various sources including People's Friend and D. C. Thomson & Co. LTD.. Paper Pattern Department. I like the way she has created her own collages by scribbling reminders of fabric measurements and gluing the pattern pictures to the covers of the envelopes.

Home Chat

   

                               Home Chat magazine, February 23rd, 1946

Dressmaking Tools