1942 Green rayon dress
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1942-1949 A dress in green rayon
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The back of the dress
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View of the top of one shoulder, showing the front edge of the yoke
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Detail of the waist at the front showing one of the buttons and the buckle on the belt
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The label with the utility mark inside the back neck
Description
By this date rayon could be made that looks like cotton.
The dress has four buttons and worked buttonholes down the front of the bodice, and a 7½" long placket in the left side seam at the waist, with four press studs to fasten, halves of two of which are missing.
The top of the bodice front edges are rounded and folded open as lapels, joined to the collar which also has rounded points. The collar is 2½" deep at the centre back and has five rows of top-stitching, about ⅛" apart and barely visible, round its outside edge.
The yoke has a seam along the shoulders, and the front pieces are squared off 3" from the front edges. The bodice is gathered into the yoke at the front and the back and also into the waist seam. There are patch breast pockets, 3⅝" wide and 3¾" deep, in the green rayon, with folded over tops in tan rayon whose lower edges curve down 2" from the top.
The sleeve heads have four ½" deep pleats, about ⅞" apart, into the yoke, over self-covered shoulder pads, 1⅜" at their widest. The ends of the sleeves curve up ½" at the centre and have a 1⅝" deep self facing.
The waist is covered by a 1⅛" wide self belt with one end mitred and a matching plastic slide buckle on the other; it is slotted through self belt loops, ³⁄₁₆" wide, on the side seams.
The skirt has a centre front panel, 5" wide at the waist widening to 7⅜" at the hem; it is top-stitched on to the side panels with a lip of ³⁄₁₆". Pleats, 1⅝" deep, 2" each side of this are similarly top-stitched down for 12" on the right and 14" on the left and then released. The back has two similar pleats, 1⅜" deep, 4" apart at the waist and 6¼" at the hem, and the edges are top-stitched down with an ⅛" wide lip, 12¾" down from the waist.
The dress has a label sewn inside the back neck; this has the utility mark, and below it says: A Tailormaids (Alloa) Ltd. Product; sewn on to that is another label with details of the maker written in pencil, which indicates that the dress was not worn and probably not even sold.
Contemporary illustrations
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Fashion drawing in Woman's Weekly, June 1941
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Fashion drawing in Home Fashions, Spring 1945
History
The dress was made under the Utility scheme, set up in 1942 during the second world war after clothing was rationed in 1941. It ensured that good quality clothing was available to everyone at affordable prices, and garments in the scheme all carried labels with the Utility Mark.