6. Make clothes from unexpected materials
During World War Two, materials were carefully rationed, inspiring the government at the time to set up its famous Make Do and Mend campaigns, with lively posters and films, some of which are shown at Killerton. Parachutes – constructed rather luxuriously of silk until it was replaced by nylon in 1943 – were particularly sought after. “I’ve been told that, if a pilot came down and landed in a tree during the war, they’d go off and leave their parachute behind. Then, local people would go out, retrieve the parachute, and use the non-damaged parts,” says Tobin. “My grandmother told me you could get parachutes on the black market; I’ve seen small ads in newspapers of the time, giving notice that a consignment had come in and would be on sale.”
“Once you’d got your hands on a parachute, you had the raw materials to create lingerie, cami knickers, baby clothes, even wedding dresses,” she continues. Patterns sold in shops showed how to make best use of the parachute’s elongated triangular panels. Alongside the traditional pieces, a dress by London designer Christopher Raeburn, made from silk maps given to Royal Air Force crewmen in World War Two and beyond into the Cold War, takes pride of place – as does one of Tobin’s personal favourites, an elegantly styled dressing gown, made from an army blanket.
“I’ve just been waiting for the right moment to show it,” she says. “It was made by a young woman in the 1940s in Exeter who repurposed a heavy brown blanket, and added some slightly worn green blanket wool to extend the length and to create a shawl collar. I hope this is the one piece that will inspire people to repurpose things you might not necessarily think of as clothing material. I’ve been eyeing up my son’s old duvet cover to make a dress,” she laughs. “Just because it didn’t start life as a dress fabric, doesn’t mean you can’t make a dress out of it.”
