"Make Yourself a Summer Hat" (Stitchcraft, May-June 1945)

 In 1945 "make do and mend" was still very much in fashion.  Magazines were full of ideas for renovating, restyling and repurposing old garments.  This issue of Stitchcraft contained instructions on how to convert old clothes into a new hat.

The coloured picture shows this really elegant hat turned up at the side.  [Below], the girl has decided to wear the brim down all round.  Be sure to wear the hat dead straight on your head.

Materials: The original model was made from an old pair of silk stockinette knickers, dyed turquoise.  However, if you're at all like us you will not want to part with such a useful garment, and so prefer to copy it in material from an old flowered evening frock, gingham, cretonne or velvet.  It doesn't really matter what you choose so long as you follow the diagrams carefully.

You will need a piece of spartra or buckram, 21 by 18 inches, for stiffening, a yard of ribbon for trimming, and binding for inside headband.

Making: Cut out spartra as diagrams A, C, and D.  Cut out the V in the back of brim as shown, and join up cut ends with light but firm overstitching.

In same way join short ends of crown piece.  Start by making the crown first.  Cover the top C with a piece of material, tacking raw edges on to under side firmly, then stitching lightly on same side, so that the stitches do not show through.

Now cut a piece of material for crown 23 by 7 inches.  Arrange this over crown as in diagram B, gathering the top edge as indicated. The dotted line represents the line of the spartra crown under the fabric.  Now turn up this superfluous material, so that it acts as a lining to the crown, gather it, to match the first lot of gathers, and stitch together with previous gathers.

Stitch top neatly over the hole, pinching the crown to make a hard line for centre-front as shown in photograph.

For the brim, cut a piece of material 36 by 7¼ inches.  Fold over the brim, and sew along the edges of material with a fine running stitch, not sewing any of the buckram or spartra.  This line of stitching is on the inner edge of your circle.  Gather up so that the folds are evenly arranged.  Join the ends of the fabric neatly at back of brim.

Place crown over the brim, so that all raw edges are inside; stitch firmly.  Trim off raw edges of brim materialso that only about ¼ to ½ an inch remains.  Finish off this untidy edge with a piece of ribbon or bias binding.

Neaten the inside of the top with a piece of material cut in the same way as for top.  Sew on hat elastic and trim with ribbon.

Spartra was an open weave straw material, used to create the foundations of hats.  Alas, it is no longer produced.  Buckram, a stiff, supporting material, is still available if anyone wants to try making this hat.

On Making Do (Stitchcraft 1943)

 Every country caught up in the Second World War was affected by civilian shortages, but some countries were more affected than others.  These magazines, published in Great Britain, are full of tips and projects for making the most of a limited clothing ration.

Knitting, as always, was a popular pastime.  Since it was important to use as little yarn as possible, designers started creating patterns for tight, waist-length jumpers in stitches that saved wool.  Multi-coloured patterns (as in the hat and gloves below) became popular as a way of using up odds and ends.  If all else failed, knitters could always unravel an old garment, and use the wool to knit something new!

Now on to the magazines.

January 1943

The cover shows a ribbed jumper with a camels in cross stich on the yoke.  Other contents include patterns for detachable collars made of wool (only half an ounce of wool for each!) , a pattern for an apron to make out of old blackout curtain, and a pattern for "sockettes" to be worn to save one's precious stockings.

Styles of '65: Knitted and Crocheted Dresses (Stitchcraft, January and March 1965)

 Let's head back to 1965 again!  In this year, Stitchcraft featured patterns for full-length dresses on a couple of its covers. The simple lines of 1960s dresses would probably have meant that they were well within the power of the average amateur to make—though perhaps a bit more than average time and patience was required!

January 1965

 January 1965 features a knitted sweater dress—in double knitting!  For the non-knitters among you, double knitting is method of producing a fabric of double thickness using two sets of needles.  OK, maybe this pattern did take that little bit of extra skill, but the results would certainly have been warm and cosy! 

March 1965

In March we have a crocheted shift dress (so no need for shaping) in a fairly simply cluster stitch with fringed neck- and hemline.  Cluster stitch produces a double-sided fabric, so it's possible that this dress could have been worn inside-out.