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Make do and Mend. This slogan and many others were printed in magazines & posters, promoted on radios & at the movies. It was used to motivate & to help everyone understand the shortage of supplies occurring during the war.
Families were given a ration book that had stamps or would get stamped when certain items were purchased.Almost every item in the store would have a coupon value.Families were told how much meat, sugar, coffee and even certain yard goods could be purchased.The goal was to cut down on certain items that were much more needed for the men and women fighting the war.
In order to make it a little easier on everyone, mostly the housewife, they gave out booklets with helpful hints on dealing with the rations. After many things were donated to the war effort, what they kept had to last for as long as needed.They planted gardens to help out the made up recipes to extend the rationed food.They re-knit old sweaters into socks,gloves or even baby sweaters.Blankets became coats, old dresses became aprons, skirts, quilt scrapes & so on.Why buy & use up a coupon if you didn't have to.
They sacrificed for their families,to help out neighbors,to honor their country and especially to support the men and women in service.All of their hard work to care and preserve what they had, is the very reason why we have the vintage items that we do.The dresses we wear, the books we read or their household items we use to cook and decorate our homes. All of these items that are still in a nice condition shows all of their efforts. Everything that we enjoy that's vintage must be cared for so that we may show respect & honor all of their hard work. I thought that I would do my own version of Make do & Mend for today's needs. To "Mend" our vintage items and make them last.To "Make do" and ration what we have and re-think certain items to make them stretch a little farther. I will try to be as thorough as possible. I will split the posts into two parts, so that I may able to give you couple of helpful hints and add a couple of photos.