'Sewn in' for winter ??

[mazi]

A lot of googling has produced reference to a post on a totally different forum from 3 years ago claiming that this practice still existed in the 70s, unfortunately the link to the post is broken.

A seemingly reputable history site suggests that the source of most stories originates with inner city evacuees arriving at horrified middle class homes dressed in the only clothes they possesed,
totally inappropriate for winter,and devoid of underwear of any sort except for a length of red flannel wrapped around the chest and sewn to prevent it coming undone.

Mike

[iluleah]

A seemingly reputable history site suggests that the source of most stories originates with inner city evacuees arriving at horrified middle class homes dressed in the only clothes they possesed,
totally inappropriate for winter,and devoid of underwear of any sort except for a length of red flannel wrapped around the chest and sewn to prevent it coming undone.

Mike

That fits very well with the story my grandmother told me

[Millmoor]

Snap iluleah -I can remember my grandmother talking about war time evacuees being sewn in for the winter. This was in co Durham - she was the wife of a headmaster.

William

[Mike in Cumbria]

I think someone is having fun at our expense.

Like GS, I don't believe a word of this.

[iluleah]

I think someone is having fun at our expense.

Like GS, I don't believe a word of this.

 !

[ThrelfallYorky]

I also find that account totally unbelievable. I recall a very old lady telling my mother, when i was a very young child, about being "sewn in", and I'd asked her what that meant - being a child I asked "what about the toilet?", and as far as I can recall:
"Sewing in" was a length of (red?) flannel wrapped round the torso, and stitched into a tube, with a vest stitched onto it. Knickers were NOT fastened to it - so going to the toilet was possible in a normal way. It was done when the first frosts/snows arrived (I'm talking an upland, N of England Farm here) and dispensed with when the weather eased, so really an emergency bodywarmer for a few weeks.
She answered my questions freely, the vest was kept on ( and so were the knickers) under nightie for bed.
So I reaslly can't believe that anyone living in a city (warmer) would need more than than normal clothing. I agree, it's a hoax.

[Erato]

"a length of (red?) flannel wrapped round the torso, and stitched into a tube"

Why didn't they wear union suits in the winter?  Or long johns? 

[Mike in Cumbria]

What a bizarre custom.  No wonder child mortality was high.  I have never heard of it in North America where the winters are longer and colder, at least in the north central region.

Maybe not completely unknown in North America.
https://thelibrary.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/fa80b.htm   (Section 14)

[CarolA3]

I've just caught up with this, and I don't believe a word of it.

Rather than a 'joke' or wind-up at our expense, this sounds more like a manipulative fantasy which the poster is using to provoke reactions of horror and therefore sympathy.  Note that when challenged, the poster concocts even more unlikely details to keep the fantasy alive.

There's little point in arguing with fantasists.  We should probably step away now and go about our own business.

Carol