The Vintage Reader

Reprinted in Make and Mend for Victory, copyright 1942, The Spool Cotton Company, but I don't know where it first came from; obviously, more research is warranted.



Attributed to Consumer Division, Office of Price Administration.

This is an excellent little booklet, full of useful instructions for making your clothes last longer, but the thing I like best is the descriptions of how to restyle clothes--although they could really use a little more detail. For example:

Problem: Neckline is unbecoming.

Solution:
"1. Take off old neckline finish. Press carefully. Run a machine stitch close to edge to prevent stretching. By pulling up this stitching slightly, a neckline which has been stretched may be eased in.
2. Select a pattern with desired neckline. Cut new line from this pattern, folding garment carefully at center front and center back before pinning on pattern. Apply suitable finish as suggested in pattern."

I really don't know how you'd do that with most modern patterns, although my mother used to be able to do it. The idea that in the 1940s an average woman might have known how to do something like this, without extra step-by-step instructions, is really appealing.