50s question

Katiehound

I know this would be time consuming but you might have a look at Frith's photos to see what clothes are being worn. Just seen an image of Croydon in 1955- very typical outfits.
https://www.francisfrith.com/ecards

I think the original question was about rayon dresses. I remember dresses being cotton in the main. Oh yes, and dresses or skirts & twin sets (with pearls of course!)
 My friend has just told me that home made aprons were the perfect present- I'd forgotten that!

Grouchy

Thanks for all the replies, I'll precis this and forward as the personal anecdotes are really useful as have exhausted the internet.  One thing that stands out, correct me if I'm wrong, is that the fashion straddled working and middle classes women, only that one would expect those with less resources to reuse a garment year after year to get the best wear.  One thing that i don't think has been mentioned and that I found in various books is small adaptations to dresses worn the following seasons with things like changing the neckline say to a V or add a contrasting fabric as 'new' cuffs or pocket trimming to 'refresh' for another seasons wear. 

Katiehound

Yes I am sure about that- adding something to make it 'new!' adding cuffs, frill etc would be possible sewn by hand if the person didn't have access to or sewing machine skills.

I think the moneyed classes didn't bother about their clothes- they had money to buy new but everyone else , generally, were used to make do and mend. Of course there were still shortages after the war.

Garments were also cut down as in adult to child size. Good smaller pieces used for shopping bags, patchwork, larger pieces for aprons: final destination- floor cloth!

I know this is not outer garments but my friend's father worked for British Celanese who produced rayon (with chemicals.) They produced underwear for the Wrens etc during wartime. My friend remembers offcuts coming home and being made into garments for her mother & herself (late 40s onwards until company taken over by Courtaulds)

My mother had some nylon dresses which were gifted from USA & as a child I had a nylon taffeta dress for a wedding- late 50's.

London_1

I remember my late Mother after letting down the hems of my dresses would add  a white broiderie anglaise strip around the hem to make it a bit longer as I grew in an upwardly direction but was as skinny as a rake

JackieO xx  

weenancyinAmerica

My mother would sew braid trim over the old hem marks when she let down my dresses. I don't how many people ever read "Old-Fashioned Girl" by Louisa May Alcott, but the part that fascinated me was when the main character was turning her dress inside out and resewing it to get more wear out of it. It was common here to cut down clothes for smaller people, or change them into something useful like an apron or even use the pieces for teddy bears and quilts. My father like to use old suits for the teddy bears and other animals, including some in weird shapes that he would stuff and then put eyes on them.

Rosa_Damascena

London_1 said:

I remember my late Mother after letting down the hems of my dresses would add  a white broiderie anglaise strip around the hem to make it a bit longer as I grew in an upwardly direction but was as skinny as a rake

JackieO xx  

I remember my granny doing this for me! She spent a good chunk of her adult life in Africa, and was a real homemaker. My mum still has items of hers - such as sewing shears - that she is not about to part with. They both told me that the Queen would cut her sheets down the middle when worn through and then sew the two less-used ends together during the war! That to them was normal.

Rosa_Damascena

@Grouchy - take a look at this, it comes from a book that has collated thrift advice given ahead of WW2:

bouicca21

It occurs to me that Grouchy’s friend might find it useful to get access to the online British Newspaper Archive, a search of 1950s papers would reveal some useful information and illustrations of just what people were wearing.

weenancyinAmerica

@Rosa_Damascena - looks like a very interesting book. Thank you for telling us about it.

PipneyJane

@Grouchy thank you for asking your question.  You've triggered a fascinating amount of reminiscences.  We have an annual Fashion-on-the-Ration Challenge - if you don't mind, I'll include a link to your thread in the FAQ's at the start.

Another place that your friend may find useful information is Trove, which is an online archive of Australian magazines and newspapers, maintained by the National Library of Australia.  I'm linking to a search on the word "Fashion" between the dates 1.1.1950 and 1.1.1960.  It's a real rabbit hole of useful information  

- Pip