1943 Making Do

Today we are in 1943, I'm glad about that as 2016 is making me want to cry, the loss of Bowie and now leaving Europe? It's been a rough year, both at home and in the news.
This little one and his friends keep me going

He was sitting on the window seat and looking intently at the falling rain.

When I was looking in the big bookshelves for items to sell in my Etsy shop I found a long forgotten bundle of clippings

I wasn't really sure what to do with them, they are interesting, little snippets of social history. Easily seen as rubbish by some people. Most of them are patterns and ideas for how to look a bit glam when you cannot afford anything. Gay was a word often used then with its original meaning and it is completely apt for what people were doing to adorn their clothes
This little snippet is full of ideas for looking good on a tight budget, from reading it, it sounds like small pieces of brightly coloured material were easily obtained

I love the idea of making your own bras, unbelievable today but I found some very cute underwear patterns in one of the dressmaking books that I was listing

And if you were no good at sewing, how about knitting some

 I love the idea for this baby's bib with "Don't kiss me" embroidered on the front. A cold is never nice for a little one and if it turned into an infection the doctor would have to be called and that cost money.

And a way of disguising holes or marks in a skirt. I must say that I really like this idea and might well look out in the thrifts for a plain skirt to do this to

add a cute little homemade handbag and you are all set

There also some weird and wonderful items amongst these snippets. This knitting bag pattern and the toys

So many of the magazines and patterns that I list have these ideas in. In unheated houses bed jackets and hot water bottle covers were useful items. In one of the Vogue Knitting magazine that I have I had a pattern for a bed jacket with gloves at the ends of the sleeves "for night time readers" One day I am going to knit myself a bedjacket. I have to finish my fair isle cardigan first and my tea cosy.

I'll finish by showing some of the Stitchcraft ideas and hope that this is a better week. If anyone is interested in seeing more snippets please message me either here or on Twitter where I am @ruralidyllic Also my shop is here

I love this hat and gloves

These floral corsages are wonderful

Great combination horses and fairisle

PS A lot of the images here can be enlarged and the patterns used if you are inclined to do so