The Home Front in World War Two

by Susie Hodge

  Other necessities such as mattresses, cots, alarm clocks, torches, glassware and saucepans were virtually impossible to find too. Jam jars were often used as drinking glasses; new parents were advised to make cots out of old drawers and in cafés, sugar spoons were attached to sugar bowls by string as cutlery was so difficult to replace. In 1942 restrictions became even more severe. If, on the rare occasion any necessary items were found in the shops, prices were usually extortionate. Flour sacks or butter muslin was used as curtains, bleached or dyed and ironed, gathered up to adorn windows between the blackout curtains and the room. Maisie Walker recalls:

  “Hessian sacks that food was delivered in were begged from the grocers, to be washed and made into pegged rugs – the ‘pile’ made out of clothing that was long past its wearable state, after having the best cut out to see if something could be made out of it. All buttons were cut off and put in the button box that families used to have then. I inherited my mother’s button box that still had buttons in it that had been removed from clothes that were no longer serviceable. Lavender bags were made to be put in the wardrobe to keep the clothes smelling fresh.”

  Sadie Belasco crocheted “lace” curtains out of thin string, rather like macramé. Each curtain had a fairly intricate matching pattern and she made one for every window in the house. Rug-making was another popular handicraft as carpets became ever more worn. In the book 101 Things to Do in Wartime, instructions for making a rug were included. The chapter explained how to prepare the wool by winding it round a gauge and cutting it into strands of uniform length. The book also mentioned how “pile rugs” could be made with strips of felt or cuttings from old silk stockings. Pile rugs, also known as rag rugs were a means of using up all the scraps that might otherwise have been wasted. Eileen Watkins remembered:

  “My great-aunt used to cut leftover bits of fabric into strips, about one inch wide. Then with a hook, she pulled the strips through the holes in a sack. When she’d worked across the sack like this, she trimmed the pile to make it completely even and cut and hemmed round the edges of the sack. She made several of these lovely, colourful rugs, some small, some large and gave one to everyone in our family.”

  New life for old sheets

  From October 1942 coupons were required to buy household linen, including sheets and towels, curtains and furnishing materials. It was particularly difficult for families with children. Household goods that could be bought were extremely basic, utility style. Towels were either grey or white and in three sizes. Sheets were only made in coarse cotton; no softer cotton or linen and certainly no colours. Most families made do with what they already had, but even items that were new in 1939 became worn and shabby by the middle of the war. In 1943 the Board of Trade issued an article in Good Housekeeping. Headed “New Life for Old Sheets”, it showed various ways of making the most of household fabrics. The main image featured a woman tearing a sheet in half, with the words:

  “Watch for signs of wear and deal with a sheet that needs it before there’s a hole. Tear or cut it in half lengthwise and join the selvedges in a flat seam by hand and then machine-hem the outer edges. These thin parts will go under the mattress where there’s a little strain on them, so your re-made sheet is almost as strong as when new.”

  The piece continued with various tips, such as dealing with stains, how to make towels out of other household fabrics. At the bottom, a heading declared “Join a Make Do and Mend Class”. It read:

  “Sewing and household jobbery classes and mending parties are being formed all over the country. Already there are hundreds of them in full swing. Any Citizens’ Advice Bureau will be glad to tell you where and when your nearest class or party meets, and how you can join or help to form one in your own district. Mend and Make-do to save buying new.”

  Useful jobs that girls can do – to help win the war was published by the Board of Trade. It began: “Girls simply must be able to use their needles neatly in wartime – here are a few hints on sewing for beginners. But needlework isn’t enough in these days when EVERYTHING must be made the most of; see if you can’t turn your hand to other jobs round the house.” It continued with step-by-step buttonhole making; mending lace or net curtains; making cushion covers; washing and ironing hints and even how to fix a loose knife handle. Another leaflet issued by the Board of Trade explained “Simple Household Repairs and how to handle them”. It included instructions on repairing saucepans with holes in, patching a piece of carpet, fixing a frayed electricity flex or a loose hammer head, unblocking a sink, re-webbing a seat and patching damaged or dirty wallpaper, for example:

  “When a papered wall is damaged, the paper can be patched so it is hardly noticeable. Remove the torn or stained bit where loose. Cut out a piece of wallpaper rather larger than that you have removed and tear the edge so that it is rough and irregular – this makes the patch inconspicuous. Paste on carefully.”

  Several people recall how they salvaged old bedding or towels:

  “My mother patched a lot of our sheets, but when they became too worn; I helped her cut down doubles into singles and even singles into cot sheets.”

  “Very worn sheets were cut up, hemmed and used as tea towels or men’s handkerchiefs.”

  “We cut large, worn towels into two smaller towels.”

  “I remember my aunt cutting up a worn tablecloth and making placemats and napkins with them instead.”

  In the “Wartime Hope Chest” from Good Housekeeping, further tips were given about enhancing plain sheets or towels:

  “A series of French mottoes, for instance, cross-stitched along the borders in scarlet, makes a set of utility towels look very distinguished. Unrationed net and lace can be made into elegant table mats and frilled slip covers for small cushions.”

  Patchwork and appliqué

  Magazine articles were full of ideas about putting odds and ends to good use. One article showed how to make a “shell” patchwork blanket using wool oddments. It ran:

  “Short lengths of wool should never be thrown away, but should be tied together and wound into multi-coloured balls and kept on one side for making knitted blankets. These are excellent for children’s cots and beds and indeed for adults’ beds as well, although a too large expanse of wool tends to sag in wear unless it is very tightly knitted and the yarn is well-spun.”

  There followed a knitting pattern for a

  “Shell” patchwork knitted blanket:

  Using no.12 needles, cast on 41 stitches and knit about eight rows. Still working in garter stitch, knit two together each side of the centre stitch on alternate rows until three stitches remain. Knit these three stitches together and fasten off.When a good number of these “shells” have been made, sew them carefully together, beginning from the middle of the blanket so that the colours can be arranged in a pleasing pattern of light and dark shades. The blanket will be most effective with a border of “shells” in the same colour.

  The book 101 Things to Do in Wartime included a section on using patchwork to renovate worn, torn or tatty looking rooms. It began:

  “Patchwork provides an excellent and economical way of putting to practical use all kinds of odds and ends of plain and coloured fabrics. Counterpanes, cushion covers, tablecloths and innumerable small articles, by the exercise of patience and a little ingenuity, can be made highly decorative. Harmonising of colours and the matching of patterns will help in forming treatments that will transform otherwise unused or useless scraps into original designs.”

  The invaluable little book went on to give detailed advice about patchwork designs and colour combinations:

  “The simplest patchwork is formed by squares of material sewn together and finished with a plain border… The size of the squares will, of course, depend on the material available and also the size of the finished work…When a colour scheme has been evolved, the size of the square should be cut out in cardboard with allowance of a definite amount for turning in, and the material should be cut accurately to the templat
e. In sewing up the squares it will be found simpler to sew the squares to form complete strips and then sew the strips together.”

  A section on appliqué followed the chapter on patchwork, which explained how lace, satin or felt appliquéd on different fabrics, in blanket stitch could enhance many household objects. Further ideas included applying lace shapes to a vellum lampshade or on the surface of a jam jar, finished with transparent varnish or brightening the insides of blackout curtains with brightly coloured flower or geometric shapes.

  Many women tried to redecorate before their husbands came home on leave to make their homes more welcoming, but this was not easy. Household paint was in short supply and only came in brown, cream, green or white, so various ideas were tried, such as stippling one or two colours on a white or cream background, or stencilling below a dado or picture rail. Despite their best efforts however most homes looked drab and dilapidated, and as American servicemen began arriving from 1942 they were warned not to be shocked at the dreariness of British homes.

  Wot, no cleaning materials?

  As the war continued, along with other essentials, household cleaning materials disappeared off shop shelves. To meet the desperate pleas of readers, newspapers often featured readers’ cleaning tips. Several people who were children during the war remembered using some of the ideas:

  “My mother used scrunched-up newspaper for cleaning windows and mirrors. It worked brilliantly and I still use it today!”

  “My grandmother sprinkled bicarbonate of soda on her carpet before brushing it about ten to fifteen minutes later. Any dog or food smells disappeared.”

  “A small jar of vinegar in the dining room absorbs unpleasant odours.”

  “Vinegar wiped on all kitchen surfaces with a soft, damp sponge or cloth leaves no smell and the kitchen will always be sparkling clean.”

  “My mum used washing soda to wash our clothes and then afterwards to clean the kitchen sink.”

  “There was none of the fancy cleaning gear about then like there is now. We used to put soda crystals in the washing up water and threw it in the sink with boiling water poured over it to dissolve any grease in the waste pipe and the same down the grates outside to stop them from smelling.”

  “Use bicarbonate of soda to scour shiny materials without scratching, such as aluminium, chrome, jewellery, porcelain, silver and tin.”

  “We poured a little bicarbonate of soda in an egg cup and put it in the larder, or sprinkled it in the bin, on carpets, armchairs and drains to eliminate smells and refresh everything.”

  “Shoe polish wasn’t available so people were advised to cut a potato in half and use that to bring a shine to their shoes.” “Mother and I always put lemon juice in with our whites to whiten the wash.”

  “White vinegar makes a great fabric softener.”

  New uses for old stockings

  Although stockings were so desirable to most women, even if they were obtained, they did not last and were often put to use when they could no longer be worn. Uses included:

  Cutting them up to use for stuffing cushions, soft toys or for making rag rugs.

  Cutting them into thin ‘rings’ and using them (like elastic bands) to hold greaseproof paper on jars of jam or other preserves.

  Washed, dried and stretched over an embroidery ring, a piece of stocking worked well as a sieve!

  Using them whole or cut up, old stockings made effective dusters – particularly good for polishing mirrors or glass.

  Rose Campin observed: “Throughout the war everyone in Britain was philosophical. There was so much to worry about that you didn’t make a fuss over things you couldn’t prevent, you just got on with it and made do with what you could.”

  Christmas

  Along with so many things, most traditional British celebrations disappeared during the war. Guy Fawkes’ Night vanished first as gunpowder was needed for weapons and bonfires were in breach of blackout rules. Weddings and birthdays were reduced, but the one day that everyone still celebrated throughout the war was Christmas. As with most things to do with the home, it usually fell to women to organise.

  When war was declared in September 1939 most people believed that it would be over by Christmas, but in the event, six Christmases passed before it ended. The government made a point that Christmases should be celebrated as closely as they could to those before the war to cheer everyone up and to help make things seem as “normal” as possible. Christmas of 1939, although just over two months into the conflict, was already different from anything experienced before. The blackout was newly imposed, higher taxes were being paid and families were broken up, with men away fighting and many children and others evacuated. Those caring for evacuees were also hard-pressed to make things seem “normal”. Although there had been no air raids by that time, the authorities advised people not to bring back their evacuated children, but many did. Dutifully or perhaps more because they realised the importance of keeping a semblance of normality throughout the war, no matter what, Christmas became a day when everyone celebrated, no matter where they were, what they were doing, or what had happened. Everyone tried to forget their troubles and to focus on lifting the spirits. In 1940 (when many children were once again evacuated), Woman and Home magazine reported:

  “Christmas this year will, for most of us, have a deeper significance than ever before…the coloured paper caps which will go amusingly well with the unusual uniforms which many of us – women as well as men – may be wearing, and although the table may not groan so heavily as at other Christmases under the burden of good things on it, we may even get fun out of making the little less go a longer way – a sort of defiant good-humour and incorrigible happiness.’

  This was the Dunkirk, Blitz or wartime spirit. Those with evacuees staying with them were given helpful advice on suitable forms of entertainment, with party games and food that they might enjoy. By the following year, the Blitz had started and the true horrors of war had taken hold. Approximately 24,000 civilians had been killed in the bombing. Sheila Dunne remembered it:

  “We were all poor, food was rationed, there was little good news and yet somehow, Christmas came and we felt obliged to celebrate. Food was rationed, sweets were scarce and our old, pre-war decorations appeared almost appeared like a mockery. If you thought about it, it seemed silly to celebrate, but on the other hand, what else were we to do?”

  For the first couple of years at least, most people used the decorations they had before the war, but as these wore out or became damaged, many made decorations at home. There were no new decorations in the shops, with paper on ration and glass in short supply. Paper chains were the most common decoration to make. They were easy and cheap and they soon made any room look festive. Initially made out of colourful wrapping paper or even gummed strips of coloured paper, newspaper soon replaced this as paper became scarce. A paste was made out of flour (often soya or haricot bean flour as wheat flour was quite difficult to obtain) and water. Making decorations was a task often given to children as cutting, colouring, folding, looping and sticking strips of paper was a way of keeping them amused and occupied. Some made newspaper lanterns from rectangles of paper folded in half with slits cut across the fold. These were opened out, then curved round and glued together with a small paper handle glued on the top:

  Christmas lanterns

  Paper

  Scissors

  Sticky tape

  Paste

  Ruler

  Pencil

  Paint

  1. Measure and mark a strip of paper, five inches by half an inch. Cut it out; it will be the lantern handle.

  2. Measure and mark a paper rectangle, five inches by four inches. Cut this out. If you wish, decorate your lanterns with painted patterns.

  3. Fold the rectangle in half lengthwise.

  4. Measure and mark three inch straight lines on the rectangle, at right angles to the fold, half an inch apart, starting at one of the short edges and working across.

  5. C
ut on these marked lines across the fold and unfold the paper.

  6. Re-crease the paper in the opposite direction. This will hide any pencil marks.

  7. Curve your lantern around and paste the two matching shorter ends together.

  8. Paste the handle to the top of the lantern.

  Make as many lanterns as you wish and hang them on string across a room.

  Several ideas for home-made decorations were published in women’s magazines. The “Daisy Chain” was one of these:

  Daisy chain

  [In card or paper,] cut out numerous small flower shapes about the size of a shilling. Paint these in bright colours and then thread them alternately on fine string or yarn with either bugle beads or chopped hollow corn stalks. If you have neither of these, use coloured string or wool and make a knot each side of the flower to keep it in place.

  All kinds of items were used to make the home more festive. Egg shells and fir cones were painted and displayed on mantelpieces, while the silver paper from cheese spread was sometimes saved to be used on makeshift trees. Margaret Arthur recalled making paper chains:

  “I loved making paper chains during the evenings in December with my sister. We cut strips out of old newspapers and glued them together with flour and water paste. When they were dry, we pinned them on each corner of the room, high up on the ceiling. We always made enough paper chains to stretch right across the room, crisscrossing in the middle. It kept us busy and we felt a great sense of achievement when we’d finished!”