Home & Kitchen Vintage Fabrics

Home and Kitchen, vintage fashion collection. By Manchester fashion designer Collette Costello.

Going to my Nanna and Grandads house was like taking a step back in time. I remember how their house was so cosy, like being in the 1930s, 1940s. My Nanna taught me to make jam, bake pies, and knit. This collection is inspired by my visits.

Jam Making
Morning spent blackberry picking, along the country lanes. The sugar is weighted, jars opened and water boiled. Ready for an afternoon in the pantry making jam.

Pie Making
The Aga is warming the tiled kitchen floor, time to get the chicken from the larder. Flour, butter for a lovely crust, with a dash of milk. Chicken pie and gravy made for supper tonight.

Home Sweet Home
A cold wintery Sunday afternoon. The cat is curled-up next to the coal fire, getting warm on the rug. Time to settle down with a pot of tea and a good book.

Knitting Break
Front door step scrubbed, window cleaned with vinegar and newspaper. Time for a spot of knitting from the women weekly, whilst watching the television.

Life Post-war Britain

Below is a story of a women living in post-war Britain. Based on true stories and facts. That inspired the fabrics above.

The make, do and mend generation. Lilly has lived through the war, World War II. It is now pre-war Britain and rationing is still in place. Men have returned from the war, many are troubled. They dreamed of coming home, where women like Lilly kept the home fires burning.

Lilly worked during the war as Manager, in an ammunitions factory in Manchester. Bombing was fierce during the Manchester blitz. As fighter planes targeted Salford docks and Manchester warehouse. Lilly saw Salford Royal hospital get bombed and helped with casualties. After a night of bombing, finding refugee in air-raid shelters. She still had to go to work the next day and do a full days work. When war end, so did her management job. The government made it clear, men needed jobs and women were needed in the home.

Lilly was happy to live a quiet life now, as a housewife. She never threw anything away, using every scrap of food and fabric. Clothes were fixed, mended or made into new things. Blackout curtains, so parachute silks were made into dresses. Lilly turned her husbands old suit into a skirt. She spent her evenings listening to wireless, whilst knitting scarfs, hats, jumpers. Much cheaper than buying new.

Lilly married quickly after war ended, when her husband returned. Marrying in white was a luxury, instead she married in a homemade dress. Made from green crepe, embroidered with green beads. Lilly married the same year as the yet to be Queen of England. It was lovely to have things to celebrate again, to enjoy a simple life again.

1930s Fabric Prints U.K

Vintage fabrics in the 1930s were printed with flowery patterns. Polka dot, tartan backgrounds and pictures of animals.

1930s fabrics had a homely, cosy, traditional English feel. Cath Kidston revived 1930s style fabric prints, found now in many British homes. Perfect for making country kitchen style aprons, bunting and tea dresses.

The 1930s was a time of hardship for British people. The U.K still recovering from World War I, was now living through the “Great Depression”. People were struggling with the cost of living. Many found themselves living in poverty. It was cheaper to make clothes then sew them. Fabrics were printed using screen and block printing. This kept fabric costs low. People wanted to feel safe, secure during this time of hardship. So feminine homely fabrics and dresses were in fashion.

The 1930s was the era of the classic “Tea Dress”. Women dressed in pretty, knee length floral dresses. Embellished with ruffles, puffed sleeves, buttons and waist belts. Popular 1930s dress fabrics were cottons, voile and dotted swiss. Printed with patterns in soft feminine colour palettes. In peaches, pinks, lilacs, yellows, light blues, and greens.

Feed Sack Dresses 1930s USA

My favourite story about 1930s fabrics, comes from the USA. Like the USA they were living through the great depression. People were hungry, living on the breadline. Creative women started to make dresses from the cotton fabric bags. Used to transport wheat, grain and flour. Companies that supplied these bags such as “Staley Milling Co”. Began to make the feed sack bags more appealing. Printing them with floral patterns, so they could be used for dressmaking. Dress pattern makers such as “McCalls”. Sold dress patterns especially for making dresses from flour sacks. Great example of recycling and making use of what they had in time of hardship. Original 1930s fabrics are rare now, classed as antique fabrics. 1930s reproduction fabric are a better option.

1940s Fabric Prints UK

The 1940s was a time of great hardship in the U.K. The people were living through World War 2. Many men had been sent to fight on the front-line. Women covered their jobs, working in factories.

Luxuries, clothing, food was rationed. Manufacturing was now about sustaining the war effort. Fashion factories now focused on making military uniforms and boots. Women still at home in the U.K were encouraged to make, do and mend. Instead of buying new clothes, to repair and recycle old garments. Fashion changed very little from the 1930s for this reason. Like in the 1930s, during times of hardship. Women wanted to wear homely, feminine styles. Tea dresses in florals, gingham and tartan fabric patterns. Were still very popular during the 1940s.

Fabrics and clothing continued to be rationed, even after the war had ended. World War 2 lasted a long six years. During wartime and for many years after. British women found creative ways to ensure fabrics and clothes did not go to waste. They made wedding dresses out of parachute silk. Yet many working class women could not afford even parachute silk. Instead they wed in ladies suits, made in coloured crepe fabrics. Green fabrics were more readily available during the war. Making this a common colour choice.

In the make do and mend spirit. Women turned mens suits into ladies skirts and jackets. Up-cycling precious tweed, wool and velvet fabrics. Nothing was wasted. Rags, scrap fabrics were turned into patch-work quilts, rag rugs, children’s dresses. When war ended black out curtains were turned into dresses, pyjamas.

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