Vintage patterns and making

1940s Make Do and Mend Aprons made from old clothes- sewing pattern

As we know, the wartime 1940s gave rise to a number of interesting designs and patterns as women looked to old clothes to make new items. Make do and mend was the motto- and when the husbands shirt had already had its cuffs and collars 'turned' to stop the fraying showing- what could you do with it?- why- make it into an apron of course!

This apron is made from an old shirt 

and the cute little girls apron below is made from an old dress-

Both of these 'pinnies' as they were called then, would be great made up today from recycled clothes- or if you are a re-enacter of the 1940s  then you could recycle some vintage clothes too- heres a use for that very pretty fabric which has gone a little 'ripe- fuse it onto interlining and reuse it as a pinny!

We have put both diagram sewing patterns together on to one pattern- and you can now purchase and download it from our Etsy shop here

1940s flower corsages made from shoelaces

Today we have been digitalising items from the 1940s and came across these lovely flower corsages which  were made in the wartime 1940s. They were made from old shoe laces as in those days, women had to be inventive about what they could use to embellish and decorate their clothing. 

They decorated their clothing with pins and embellishment to really disguise the fact that they did not have a lot of items in their wardrobe!

Today you may be able to find a fair few spare laces as a lot of the youngsters take out the laces in their trainers and converses, either to add new coloured ones or just wear without them....(its not so many years ago that my daughter got told off for doing that by an older lady, who said she would get a 'claw toe' if she didn't tie her laces properly..... ....scary stuff but her feet seem normal today so it can't have been too bad!)

We have seen corsages made from lots of items, but this is the first time we have seen shoelaces used! I think we are all familiar now with flowers and corsages made from old zips, so maybe these will catch on as well....

here are the instructions

You could of course also add vintage buttons and beads into the centres....enjoy making these and have fun using up old laces....!

Vintage 1940s utility apron sewing patterns

Here at Vintage Visage we love patterns which show us how to use up scraps and odds and ends of fabrics. The wartime 1940s are such a great source of designs for exactly that! These 1940s utility aprons were designed to fulfil 2 functions- number one they used up scraps of material which was so precious during the wartime years, and number 2,  the aprons themselves were worm to protect the day to day clothing underneath. If you were wearing an apron, chances were that your clothing underneath wold not get dirty or stained and so would last longer.....and in some cases would need washing less times than we might do today for our clothing...don't forget, detergent wasn't easy to get either. The stripey one at the end we offer as a free pattern- please read on for how to receive it

This first apron is so lovely- we love the tag line underneath were it says- 'for britain s unsung heroes' 

Its one of our most popular patterns- and here is one that one of our customers made from recycled duvet covers

With the pretty addition of the lace at the bust line, its good enough to wear on its own as a dress.

We also have these aprons patterns from the same era- made from scraps too

This is a lovely classic 1940s apron with a frill

This is a very simple shape and made with tiny crazy patchwork pieces- we also have a pretty waisted apron (or pinafore -pinny for short- as they are sometimes called) with stripes

As with all our patterns- they are deceptively easy to make and we also offer a full email backup service for all you beginners out there who might be a bit nervous! You can find these apron patterns and more by clicking here to purchase and download- however, we do offer the stripey one as a free pattern- just leave a comment and we will send it to your email address as a pdf- enjoy!

Make do and mend- how to convert a mans suit into a womans suit 1940s instructions

We had been looking for this item for a while, ever since a customer told us it existed  and asked us to look out for it- and finally we have found it! Its a wonderful article about Make do and Mend with diagrams and instructions of how to convert and adapt and so recycle tired and worn out clothing to make it into something useful.

The idea is that the mans would have worn his suit so much that it would have started to get tired and possibly fray at the edges and cuffs for example. He may also have grown out of it size wise. This article gives the instructions of how to adapt the suit and make it fit ladies.

The original one makes the trousers into a skirt, but you could of course make them a tighter fit trouser by cutting them down. Gone (thankfully) are the days when it was frowned upon for women to wear trousers-even in the early 1970s  elderly spinster great aunts were known to comment on teenagers girls wearing trousers and call them ' a disgrace to women!'. That is a true comment of the time by the way. Sad, but true.

Its not a new idea today-Armani for instance have been making women's suits out of mens suiting fabrics very successfully for many years now (admittedly they are very fine Italian fabrics tho!) But it is a great idea for all make do and menders and upcyclers and recyclers today- you could even make really pretty fabric flowers and corsages (see our fabulous fabric flower patterns) out of the bits and pieces of suiting cut away.

You could also embellish the new garment with beads, braids  and velvet ribbons around the collar and cuffs. Changing the original buttons to funky modern ones can make a suit look really great too. Do remember to keep the original buttons for other projects tho!

The article also shows how to convert

a womans suit into a shirt dress,

a womans coat into a childs overalls and hat, 

mens trousers into childs dungarees,

mans overcoat into a boys suit

a raincoat into a lumber jacket

a raincoat into a mexican poncho for a child

and other hints and tips for reusing old sheets, towels and curtains.

You can find it to purchase on the website - it is a pdf file and will be delivered to you via email within 24 hours of your purchase- click here to go straight to this and many other interesting period ebooks too, in a new window

Make do and mend - mending, recycling and upcycling clothes and home decor

Is the art of make do and mend still active? We have some wonderful digitised booklets from the 1930s and 40s which show how to patch clothes and gloves, darn, mend the cuff of jumpers, coats, turned up trousers, re-front the husbands shirt, refoot stocking and repair knickers.....

We are in the midst of a recession yet most of us, we think, buy new rather than mend the old ones- is that so?- or can you tell us what you mend to either save money or save resources....let us know your thoughts. We do think that perhaps the advice to make a pair of knickers from an old jersey may be a tad too far these days for most of us tho!.......

This is one of several ebooklets that we have on the make do and mend subject- its quite rare we think, and we also have the more usual pink one, both dating from the wartime 1940s in the UK
This one below dates from the 1930s, and besides clothes mending has all sorts of mending tips for around the house......

of course, somme of the mending information for the homemay now be out of date- we think cisterns for instnce have moved on and improved since the 1930s....but just in case you have a vintage 1930s cistern which has broken- now you coukd fix it!

Find the digitalised ebooklets on our website here