WWI Uniforms and Nurses' Dress: Wet Wool and Corset-Free Liberation

A video by Crow's Eye Productions details the horrors of wet wool uniforms for British soldiers in World War I, decades before Gore-Tex. Female knitters sent gloves, scarves, balaclavas, and seamless socks. Despite waxing and oiling, trench boots could not keep out freezing puddles. Regiments in kilts suffered as wet material froze and cut legs. British women, barred from combat, found more comfortable dress: corsets were scrapped to save steel, though Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses like Downton Abbey's Lady Sybil Crawley wore lighter front-fastening corsets. Upper-class volunteers wore cotton dresses, black rubber-soled shoes, aprons, and sleeve protectors, preferring army-style nursing veils over Sister Dora caps. Ordinary young women gained freedom with midriff-baring chemises, knickers, petticoats, shorter skirts, stockings, and shaved legs. Cardigans, jumpers, and waistcoats compensated for lost corset warmth. Crow's Eye Productions produces more short films on dress history. Over 70 knitting patterns for WWI comforts are in the book 'Centenary Stitches'.