Napton resident Mildred Sheasby contacted the Courier after reading about examples of ‘make do and mend’ in the 1940s and 1950s - long before the modern idea of recycling had been invented.

She described how when a parachute fell into the hands of Mrs Sheasby’s friend Vera Smith in 1942, the two women wasted no time putting the fabric to good use.

Mrs Sheasby, now 87, said: “You couldn’t get material without coupons so my friend asked if I wanted to have half.

“I can’t remember what she made but I made a bra, a pair of French pants and a petticoat out of mine.”

Mrs Sheasby, then Mildred Beck, used a pattern she found and a hand-driven sewing machine to fashion the clothing, trimming the edges with some spare lace she found.

Fabric at the time was in short supply.

Mrs Sheasby, who worked as a shorthand typist at Rootes Securities in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, remembers getting married in a second-hand wedding dress, veil and head-dress having saved all her clothing coupons to buy a suit.

The cream cotton was an unusual choice for underwear, but Mrs Sheasby doesn’t think there was enough to make a dress.

She said: “I used to wear them all the time. That’s what we wore in those days.

“They were all right, but they would have been better in silk.