Thursday, May 10, 2012

British Sewing Patterns During WW2

Time: the late 1940's early 50's.  The world is at war.  How did it effect sewing patterns in England?


I had the opportunity to obtain several British WW2 era sewing patterns.  They reminded me of Pevensie kids in the recent Narnia Movies.



What did the pattern companies do to support the war effort?  They dropped color printing.

Vogue 2456

I have patterns that are printed in the US at the same time.  They are using color.
Vogue 2445

Vogue dropped diagrams, pattern sizing, and descriptions from the back for the pattern envelope.

Vogue children's pattern late 1940s early 1950s

McCall's, who had a patent on printing on their pattern tissue paper  used pre-cut pattern paper.  The printed tissue sewing pattern was fairly new at the time.  In the US - McCall's still printed on their tissue paper patterns, and so did Simplicity.  TheUS Butterick patterns I have from those years are still using pre-cut tissue paper patterns.



The patterns were taxed.

Vogue 2163
Butterick reminded people of the civilian clothing restriction orders.



The designed used limited fabric.  These patterns were present in both the US and British market.  Everyone was conserving fabric. 


The paper that the patterns are printed on (at least the patterns I have) are of good quality for the pattern tissue and the instruction paper, perhaps this is a difference between British paper and US paper. I have quite a few instructions sheets from that era printed in the US, who have seen better days.

I enjoy the images, history and stories that come to me with each package of patterns that come my way.  I  enjoyed going through the  wardrobe to see this different world.