[Vwoolf] making do

[Jeremy Hawthorn]

Interesting that the second world war initiated a reversal of values. I have a half memory that there was a poster that read "Mend and make do." Reusing old material was a contribution to the war effort, not a sign of poverty. I can remember that in the immediate post-war years there was an abundance of blackout material, used to ensure that no chinks of light escaped from windows to help enemy bombers. I doubt there were many items of clothing that could be made from it, unless you were an undertaker. Highly prized were discarded parachutes, because they were made of pure silk. There was a sequence on the UK Antiques Roadshow where a lady brought bits of a German parachute to the show. Apparently hordes of people descended on the parachute and hacked off pieces that could be used to make underwear. This was technically illegal I think, as silk was needed for stern wartime duties.

There is a book entitled  - from memory - Between Silk and Cyanide - written by a man who developed a coding system used by shot-down airmen. They carried tiny squares of silk with a sequence of codes on them. These codes were used once then swallowed. He reported that a major problem was getting hold of silk.

Jeremy H

Jeremy Hawthorn
Professsor Emeritus
Department of Language and Literature
7491 Trondheim
Norway

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