Remember those slim women's outfits of the 1940s? Or the dresses made from printed feed bags?
During World War II, the government did not just ration food items, it also rationed fabric.
Jackie LaPolla and Kathrynne Krause, representing The Paper Dolls and The War Years Society, presented a program recently on "Wartime Fashions for Ladies" at the Lebanon County Historical Society.
Speaker Jackie LaPolla, a collector of vintage clothing from New Jersey, said French designers were recreating Victorian-style fashions for women, prompted by the popular 1939 movie "Gone with the Wind."
"It was going to be big, flowing dresses with bustles," LaPolla said, "and then the war came, and we had to save material."
In March 1942, the U.S. War Production Board issued orders aimed at reducing the amount of textiles used in women's clothing by 15 percent, according to Kathrynne Krause, a World War II re-enactor from Boyertown, Berks County. The government needed the fabric for uniforms for the millions of soldiers being deployed for war. Both natural and man-made fibers were rationed, Krause said.
Such things as pleats, ruffles, patch pockets and full sleeves were prohibited, she added.
For her talk, LaPolla wore what she called a "Jenny on the job" outfit, a blue blouse with a matching pair of trousers and low-heeled shoes.
"Jenny on the job wears sensible low-heel shoes because we can't have accidents at work," LaPolla said as she modeled the outfit.
"The War Production Board didn't just deal with rationing ladies clothing," Krause said. "It was also the department responsible for recycling, all the can drives and the scrap piles and the little kids collecting newspapers — that was all part of the War Production Board to conserve our natural resources. We didn't know when we would be in contact with other countries."
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For example, skirt lengths and widths were restricted. Women's sizes for skirts or culottes had to have a length of 28 3/4 to 30 inches, misses lengths could be between 26 3/4 and 28 1/2 inches. All-around pleated skirts, wide bolts, aprons and tunics were prohibited.
Krause said the regulations didn't apply to clothing women made at home.
"At home, you would find women using just about anything they could get their hands on, up to and including feed sacks," she said. "Feed sacks were used because it was a fabric women could get their hands on."
Feed companies caught on to the trend and started producing printed feed sacks for their bulk items at the general store to encourage women to buy their brand, Krause said.
"You couldn't make an outfit with just one feed sack. But if you kept buying it, and kept buying the same prints, you'd have enough," Krause explained.
LaPolla said when a dress or outfit could no longer be worn, women would cut it down to make an outfit for one of their children.
"I'd always get stuff from my older cousins because they would grow out of it and I could wear it," she recalled. "And I'd love it."
Hats were an exception; there were no restraints on hats, LaPolla said.
"So you'll see a lot of times that the hats are very decorated," she said. " Women could make their own hats, and they could change things up."
LaPolla said most people today don't know that there were government regulations on clothing during the war years.
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