Miss Britain's Wartime Wardrobe

COUPONS BUY WARDROBES
British Women Have Problems
By THE UNITED PRESS
LONDON, Sept. 16-
-An average British woman's war-time wardrobe presents her with just about every problem except finding closet space for it or choosing what to wear, a recent Board of Trade survey revealed.
  After more than four years of clothes rationing in England and despite all the ingenious "make do and mend" methods of the 4000 women interviewed, the average has a choice of four dresses, one of which was bought within the last year.  She spent the balance of her precious coupons on five pairs of stockings, a pair of shoes, two pairs of gloves, one set of underclothes, four ounces of knitting wool, and two yards of material.
  With an eye on needs to come, average Miss Britain saved back coupons for future purchases in the equivalent of half a pair of shoes, half an overcoat, a fifth of a nightgown, and a third of a petticoat.
  The average British girl's entire wardrobe adds up to one suit, four dresses, three coats, an odd skirt, three pairs of stockings, three sets of "undies", three nightgowns, two petticoats, one brassiere, a corset, four blouses, and three pairs of shoes.
-The Pittsburgh Press, September 16, 1944

My Transparent Heart

Happy Valentine's from The Loop and Lamby.

PS Also transparent is my last minute slap dash window effort.

Dumb as a WIP

  I will never finish these lace projects:

Sunday in the Store With Morgan

The world of LYS and craft merchants is a small one, especially in a place like Nova Scotia.  There is a lot of back and forth referring, often beyond the purview of our individual shops.

I often send people off into the welcoming arms of other local and localish yarn stores when a customer needs a yarn we don't cary.  Every Sunday, I have at least 2 customers visit or phone looking for a range of things we don't carry at all....and never would.

Needlepoint and Rug Hooking supplies are the most common requests I cannot fulfill.  Sewing and Quilting supplies are close behind.  Of course, once in a while I have a desperate call for beeswax, pipe cleaners, artificial flowers, garment bags, and once, a Sombrero sized for a Teddy Bear.  I refer these quests on as best I can, but over the years I've amassed a list of craft suppliers.  It's a list that doesn't seem to exist anywhere but under our stapler at The Loop.

Downtown Halifax has a distinct circuit that crafty people take to find their supplies:
DeSerres (AKA 'The Creative Marketplace', formally Loomis & Toles)
Maritime Hobbies & Crafts
Feroz Beads
Black Market (leather, hemp, you never know)
Dustjacket Books and Treasures (Second Hand and Vintage Craft Books)
Jennifer's of Nova Scotia (Cross Stitch and Knitting kits, Finished knitted items)
Love,Me Boutique
NSCAD Student Supply Store
Dollarama/Buck or Two (you never know)

Yarn Stores seem to have a louder presence than other types of craft stores in Nova Scotia.  The average customer will have already found her way to places like L.K. Yarns, Gaspereau Valley Fibres or Have A Yarn (to name Just a few).
Here are some suppliers to whom I often refer customers.  These shops fill some rather large gaps in HRM's crafting needs:

Highland Heart Hookery
www.hookarug.com
23 Chartwell Lane  Halifax, NS B3M 3S7
(902) 445-4644

Dennison's Custom Framing (Embroidery and Needlepoint)
www.dennisonscustomframing.com
626 King St  Bridgewater, NS B4V 1B4
(902) 543-0486


The Beading Room
www.thebeadingroom.com
An online store based in Fall River N.S.  The Beading Room offers several different options for delivery.

Hands Across Time Rug Hooking
2526 Hwy #368 R.R. #1. Pugwash Junction. NS. B0K 1M0.
Tel: (902) 257-2267.
Email: handsacrosstime@yahoo.ca

This is by NO means a link list of Maritime Craft Shops and Suppliers.  Many friends and neighbouring businesses may be found on The Loop's link page.   I would love to hear how this week's Sunday shoppers fared!

George's Favorite Sweater of All Time #8

Repairing Fair Isle with a Felting Needle

A horrible thing has happened in my joke of a closet.  What I have to assume was a gang of moths, infiltrated my walk-in and declared a wooly corner, next to my duct tape judy, their territory.  Somehow, some sort of sticky thing (likely a slow melting hard candy or cough drop) challenged the moth's turf, and when the dust settled, neither the jets nor the sharks were the victims...my fair-isle sleeves were.  

This is a hibernating project, but still one close to my heart.  The sleeves were worked circularly, as one unit, and then steeked twice, to separate the two flat sleeves.  They were also decreased into pleats, but that's another story.  

The sleeve that had sat on top had two problems;  stains of hard but powdery stuff, and many tiny bites.  If you find yourself in this shameful position, consider my method:

First, I tried to soften the brittle stains by dabbing with a moist cloth.  Where the stain ran into raw ends, exposed by bites, I frayed them and roughed them up until the powdery substance was gone.  This also got rid of any fibre that was going to dislodge later, anyways.

I then began to needle felt from the back.  I looked for stash fibre that roughly matched the main colour in the area.

From the front, I carefully needle felted without adding new fibre, to lock the work in place.

I then took cuttings from the steek of those colours most in trouble.  I needle felted these in place, working from the front and then securing in the back, turning to the front once more to clean things up with the felting needle.

I was able to cover some areas almost as if I were swiss darning.  In areas of a recessing colour or of a larger colour block I didn't worry about following the path of each stitch quite so much.

While the felting needle and block were out, I experimented by felting the pleats into place.

I had never tried this before, but the results were fairly convincing.  It is also another good reason to steek when possible!  As you can see, I use a crochet steek.  The critters had been there as well, so the troubled sleeve was coming away from the crochet in places.  I squished the perpendicular crochet and knit stitches together and needle felted along the join.

That's probably a good idea too, even outside of wartime.  I sometimes worry about a crochet steek holding, depending on the yarn employed.  While I usually reinforce with hand sewing; backstitches with a doubled thread, from now on I may turn to needle felting if reinforcing is necessary.  I think it is a good solution for stranded projects worked in Cascade 220 in particular.  The larger gauge doesn't always support traditional steeking methods and of course the wool lacks a Shetland wool's stickiness.  It is, however, a prodigious felter!

I do a lot of stranded projects in Cascade 220, but this has more to do with availability.  The Loop's shipment just arrived and the heathered colours are beautiful.  As always, I will have to buy one skein of each new colour.  I think of 220 as Pokemon a little bit.

Choosing & Placing Knitted Shoulder Pads

Here are some examples of effects created by Gauge Swatch Shoulder Pads. These pads are generously stuffed; remember that the thickness or fullness of the pad is up to you. The pad shapes shown here are Square,
Triangular,
and Rectangular.
Read about how to make your own shoulder padding from gauge squares here. It is worth noting that the effect of the Rectangular pad is similar to that achieved with Sleeve Head Rolls.

1.

A Square pad tacked to both the shoulder seam and the inside of the sleeve head, rounding the shoulder line and supporting the apex of the puff.

2.

A Square pad placed halfway down the neck (at about the bra strap) so that half of the pad projects beyond the natural shoulder.The pad is sewn along one side, crossing the shoulder seam, with the inner corners tacked to the front and back of the garment. The free edge of the pad is weighed down by the sleeve, taking the shape of the puff. The seam of the pad, because it is located further down the neck avoids added height but still has a military feel.

3.

A Triangular Shoulder Pad with the fold (the longest side) attached to the shoulder near the centre top of the shoulder seam. The point of the triangle is left free floating to take the shape of the puff. With an overstuffed pad such as this one, a kick-up shoulder line can be achieved.

4.

(My favorite!) A Triangular Pad with the centre point attached to the shoulder. The folded side projects into the head of the sleeve, and dictates the end of the shoulder line.
The sleeve follows the shape of the top of the pad and then falls in a clean vertical drop. This is a good way to give structure to a drapey or lacy knit.

5.A Rectangular Pad attached to the shoulder at the centre of the pad's long seam.  Small stitches tack those inner corners to the front and the back of the garment.

The folded edge of the pad extends the shoulder line and supports the fullest part of the puff sleeve.The outer edge of the shoulder becomes rounded.

6.

 A Rectangular pad attached to the shoulder at the sleeve seam with the long seamed edge pointing up into the puff.  The fullness of the sleeve is kept aloft by the pad's seam.  This is suited to a twin set because of the seaming difficulties.  The determined could tack the lower corners to a bra strap or a under shirt to prop up a knitted jacket.
The outer edge of the shoulder line is supported for a softer war time look.

A Final Note:

Use a seamless join like mattress stitch or grafting at the top shoulder seam in preparation for this type of padding.
 Use a 3 needle bind off if you plan on using modern, store bought shoulder pads; the ridge created by the seam will provide a spine useful for stitching the centre of pads to the sweater.
You are reading "The Quest For Puff" ©Morgan Forrester

Up next:

Padding Vintage Sweaters with Sleeve Heads

Coming Soon:

Vintage Sleeves: Puff Pleating

Vintage Sleeves: Seaming for Puff

Creating Puffed Sleeves Anew

Canadian Women's Roll in War 1939 - 1940

Women's Role In War Remains Feminine One Here

BY MURIEL ADAMS

(Canadian Press Staff Writer)

Toronto, Jan. 25

These are full days for the typical Canadian woman. If she isn't knitting pullovers or sewing pneumonia jackets for the Red Cross Society, she is filling a "ditty" bag for sailors, giving alternate Sunday evenings to entertain the air force at suppers or doing special war duties assigned by her own club.

Since 1914 women have won greater freedom---the right to vote, the opportunity to take their place beside men in all professions -but so far in Canada their field of war duty is purely a feminine one-knitting, dewing or nursing.

When war broke out 25 years ago there were a few national women's organizations such as the National Council of Women, the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, and the Victorian Order of Nurses, where women were taking an active part in public problems. Their total membership was less than one-third what it is today.

Women's war efforts were more unified when war began in September. A national drive for registration of women's qualifications for service in national emergencies was already under way. Then machinery started to collect all available offers from coast to coast. These revealed thousands of workers with experience in munition and textile factories, as translators, canteen workers and nurses, who were anxious to give their services.

Ready for War

Remembering the distress caused by the influenza epidemic that followed the first Great War, women all over the country enrolled in home nursing and first aid courses, prepared to go over-seas or work in their own communities.

First major war effort was the sending of tons of clothing and blankets to evacuated children in England. Canadian women over-seas banded together under the direction of Mrs. Vincent Massey, wife of the Canadian high commissioner, and organized the distribution of these supplies and attended to Canadian war work developing on their side of the ocean.

New Red Cross Branches, I.O.D.E. chapters and St. John Ambulance units sprung up in every province. Troop canteens and recreation rooms were opened in most of the large cities and military districts by women's organizations. Sewing groups met in churches, homes, schools and downtown offices to work in their spare time for the men in uniform.

-The Calgary Herald, Thursday January 25, 1940

Sunday in the Store With Morgan

*a Parker who loves the 4 Georges?

It is officially winter in Halifax, and when the wind blows at Salter and Barrington Streets it is bitterly cold.  On a Sunday however, The Loop is toasty warm.  Sometimes it is downright hot.  Often, at Noon, I have to crack the back window a little, which shocks and confuses the amorous pigeons who rendezvous on our sil.

I took this photo outside of DeSerres, where I was waiting for a cab.  15 minutes later I flagged one down.  I had always been told that in Halifax, you can't flag a car.  My Cabbie told me that this isn't true when it comes to Barrington Street!  News to me.

 This Sunday I spent Embroidering.  It's easy to pick up and put down as the need arises, and it's too too convenient having our supply of DMC floss so close to hand.

I also took advantage of our huge storefront window.  Over the years I've used countless transfer methods to get embroidery patterns and my own sketches onto cotton and linen.  I've used lightboxes, carbon paper, various papers, pens and pencils and ironing methods.  When it comes down to it, I don't think anything beats scotch tape, a sharp pencil, and a sunny window.

I do advise photocopying the pattern twice; one copy will be taped to the window underneath the fabric, and the other will be taped alongside, as a reference.  I also recommend drawing four crosses on the fabric, tracing each corner of the pattern or pattern paper.  This way, if you need to retrace, you can orient the fabric perfectly.


Clover needles and notions have arrived!
I'd like to thank all those customers who understood that for me to do the oft-procrastinated job of sorting and pricing the needle shipment, and then printing out our tiny price stickers I need to 
A:  Say the prices and item codes aloud, and
B:  Listen to cartoons on youtube playing underneath the inventory windows.  Totally Spies, Disney's Recess and of course, The Emperor's New School are helpful.  
You are very understanding.  It must be a shock to hear a sudden 'Hiya! Ya!' or 'This Whomps' before I remember to switch the audio over to yarn shopping music.
Enjoy the 4 Georges:



Who ever could have guessed that I'd develop a thing for George II?!

Vintage Pattern Photos with Shoulder Pads

Here are some examples of Vintage Pattern Photos that put Shoulder Pads to good use:

This shape can be supported by a kick-up pad.  If you cannot find this style of shoulder pad consider using shaped sleeve heads or a rolled pad.

In this pattern photo you can clearly see the edge of the shoulder pad.  It appears to be shaped like modern women's wear 'coat pads'.  It features a steep increase from the inner to outer edge, and lets the sleeve hang straight down below the modest puff.

A roll or long rectangular pad (see gauge swatch pads) should be used when the sleeve seam sits this far from the neck and the puff extends the shoulder line.

The line of this 1950s shoulder is improved by a round pad.  Although the welt features drastic shaping (presumably full fashioned increases) the sleeve and shoulder are very basic.  The pad creates the shape and adds drape to the heavy fabric.  This is the kind of 'figure enhansing' padding that Dior re-introduced.

Another kick-up shape.  Any kick-up shoulder pad, whether it is a pad or layered, angled sleeve head, needs to be customized and carefully placed.  In this case most of the shaping comes from the fabric type and pleating.  The padding supports, rather than creates the shape.

To support the apex of this folded puff sleeve, a triangular pad or a modern shoulder pad. trimmed to shape should work.  When the shoulder line is extended to this extreme, consider stitching the pad so that the greater portion of padding is free of the shoulder.  Try flipping a triangular pad so that the point sits at the centre of the sleeve to shoulder seam, and that the long side sits at the edge of the shoulder.

Without some sort of pad a cardigan or any kind of second layer would flatten a delicately puffed sleeve jumper.  In this example the pad would most likely have been knit as a small rectangular (almost square) pillow, stuffed with fleece or maybe sawdust.  A clever home knitter might have used her gauge squares!

Remember that a sturdier knit may not require a shoulder pad.  Often, a dense or thick fabric can support it's own puffed up weight, so long as it has been properly gathered or pleated before seaming into the armseye.

This pattern photo clearly shows the outline of a shoulder pad.  It is shaped much like todays shaped pads and is a handy reference for padding placement.  It will have been stitched down the centre spine, with small tacking stitches taken at the two side points of the pad, securing it to the front and the back of the sweater.

'For When You're Off Duty ' is an uncommonly accommodating pattern.  The pattern includes direction of a custom shoulder pad.  Despite the dense fabric created by pleating the firm 1x1 ribbing of the sleeve, this elongated shoulder line would not stay aloft without it's padding.

You are reading "The Quest For Puff" ©Morgan Forrester

Up next:

Choosing & Placing Knitted Shoulder Pads

Coming Soon:

Vintage Sleeves: Puff Pleating

Vintage Sleeves: Seaming for Puff

Creating Puffed Sleeves Anew

This post is a part of The Quest For Puff Series. Read it from the beginning HERE.