Sugar Rations & Parachute Couture!

Jean and Tony recall wedding dresses made from airmen's parachute silk; Jean remembers sitting for hours with other women sewing on beads from chandeliers and offers a fascinating insight into the impact of  food rationing postwar:http://www.archive.org/details/ParachuteWeddingDressesAndRationingWwiiAustralia

To see a parachute wedding dress in the Smithsonian's collection, click here:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/costume/object.cfm?recordnumber=834994

Image: Jean and Tony.

The Threads of Memory

The internet proved useful and adpatable to responding to residents' stories. When Clyde and I pored over printouts of  post-war Singer sewing machine models online, I became fascinated by sewing machines and the stories around them. For a fascinating view onto some stories:
 http://www.singermemories.com/
Above: Image from Betty's album of her mother, Frances. Frances made mens' pyjamas for the Red Cross during WWII and sewed Betty's wedding dress. Here she's seen on her well loved Singer Sewing machine 62 years ago - sewing away in 1947.