Hello girls,
Catching up with Wednesday's Sewing Bee. My goodness - I never realised just how many pieces it took to make a kimono - absolutely fascinating!! Have the remaining two sections of the programme still to watch. Hope to do that tonight.
My lovely Helen - bright as a button - yes, obviously I knew we entered the war in 1939, but it was kicking off a bit before that and the situation as 'vulnerable' was being aired for some time before we joined in. I guess though as you say, silk would have been around in quantity. Poorer folks wouldn't have been able to afford silk 'anything' I don't suppose but your more prosperous purchaser probably wanted everything in silk.
Interesting though is the subject of parachutes as they really would have wanted them in quantity once our chaps were taking to the skies for the second world war, because this time they would have been flying in combat and needed parachutes, whereas in the first world war pilots were sent up without parachutes. At that time the flying corps were used really for the purposes of reconnaissance - in identifying where enemy batallions were situated on the ground as information for our troops on the ground. These same flyers too also took numerous photos of places of interest in enemy territory, so it wasn't considered necessary for them to have parachutes as they were not expected to be using ammunition. It was probably only when the flyers, in needing to lose height to take their photos, were fired upon that it was suddenly realised the danger the chaps were expected to fly into, without protection should they need to bale out.
Anyway - back to Sewing Bee - the kimono. Once we'd seen how they were constructed and the fact that I hadn't realised they had a lining as well as the outer fabric, my first thought was just how hot it must be to actually wear one!! Looking forward now though to the other bit I have yet to see.....