make do and mend

Rationing

Rationing was one of the ways we won the war. As merchant ships were often sunk by the enemy, imports were restricted. Also factory production was concentrating on the war. Therefore lots of things were in short supply lots of things were shared out by rationing.
You were only allowed a certain amount of clothes, food and other household goods. You had to pay for them as well. Ration books were full of coupons which could be cut out and used to buy a fixed amount of rationed foods each week or month. Every time a housewife bought some sugar she had to give a sugar coupon. When she had used up all her sugar tokens for one week she had to wait until the following week before she could buy any more.
Food was very hard to get a hold of, so people were encouraged to grow vegetables in order to feed their family. Cartoon characters called Potato Pete and Dr. Carrot appeared on leaflets, telling people to eat plenty of these foods. The slogan "Dig for Victory" appeared on posters and banners to encourage people to grow their own food. Meat was hard to get hold of so the government advised people to eat rabbits.


Make do and Mend Clothes were rationed during the war just like food, petrol and soap. Clothing rationing began on 1 June 1941. Everyone was allowed 66 clothing coupons a year, which more or less added up to one complete outfit a year.
Clothes bought from the shops were designed to use as little material as possible. On a mans suit you would have only three pockets no turn ups only three buttons and a maximum trouser length of 48 cm. On the dress for women no elastic waist bands, no fancy belts maximum heel height of 5 cm, for a night dress you would have to pay and give 6 coupons. 16 coupons for a mans overcoat, 11 coupons for a dress, 4 coupons for under pants, half a coupon for a handkerchief and 8 coupons for pyjamas.

Women were encouraged to repair and remake their family's old clothes. Old curtains were cut up to make skirts and dresses. Unwanted jumpers were unravelled and knitted into something else.
Make up and stockings were hard to come by. Some women would draw a line down the back of each leg and pretend they were wearing stockings. Others used gravy browning to dye their legs but on a hot day this drew the flies to their legs.