Party Dress

Girl’s Patchwork Party Dress, 1944. Museum no: MISC.265-1983 (click image for larger version)

This dress was made for a little girl called Jane by her mother in 1944. Jane had received a surprise invitation to a children's party, but she didn't have a dress she could wear. Parties did not happen very often by this stage of World War Two. There were shortages of food, and many children were separated from their friends and families because they had been moved to safer areas. Party dresses were also hard to come by because they cost a lot of money and Jane's mother would have had to use up many rationing coupons to buy one.

The night before the party, when Jane had gone to bed, her mother got out her sewing kit and every scrap of spare fabric she could find. She sat up all night cutting and stitching, and in the morning, there was Jane's new party dress - cleverly made out of a patchwork of all the pieces.