SHEEPSKIN VESTS WANTED

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21185, 7 August 1940, Page 4

SHEEPSKIN VESTS WANTED

AUSTRALIAN COUNTRYWOMEN’S ENTERPRISE A N inspiring example of wartime thrift is seen in the work of a new Country Women’s Association enterprise in Australia—the Sheepskin Vest Committee. Formed at the suggestion of Mrs H. Stevenson, who remembered what a comfort sheepskin vests were to the men during the Great War, the committee is already planning to cope with a demand for nine thousand, and also to turn left-over scraps of pelt and wool to practical uses, states the Sydney Morning Herald. In the past many graziers threw away or burned the pelts of sheep killed after shearing-time. Now they are answering the Country Women’s Association appeal, and pelts carried free by the railways are collected, sorted, and sent to the tanners by the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co. Tanners have raised £BOO among themselves to help cover the cost of tanning, and furriers are making vests as a contribution to the war effort. At first members of the Country Women’s Association expected to cut and finish the vests, but the job is a difficult one, requiring special machinery and a certain amount of training. They gratefully accepted the furriers’ offer. Furriers’ Staff Work at Night Recently a batch of 50 vests, made in the workrooms of a wellknown city furrier, were dispatched for men of the Royal Australian Navy. The firm guaranteed to produce 200 each week if sufficient pelts were provided. Giving their services voluntarily, the staff works at night and at week-ends to supply orders, and all the vests are given away. Six thousand five hundred are wanted for the Army, 2000 for the Navy, and 100 for the Iceland Patrol. Others will be required by the Air Force. Pelts from sheep shorn not more than six weeks before killing are used for vests. Contributors are asked to flay the sheep carefully to avoid cutting the skin, to keep the skins clean, unstained, and free from lumps of flesh and fat, to expose them for drying immediately after removal from the carcases, to dry them in the shade or under cover, and to send them in as soon as possible after drying. Arsenical solution and naphthalene can be used to keep down insect pests. Even the Scraps Not Wasted Mrs Stevenson has provided a pattern for the vests, which are sleeveless, roomy, and tie across the chest and waist with tapes. The city firm which made 50 for the Navy is turning the larger left-over scraps of pelt into “mits” (gloves with a thumb and one compartment for the remaining fingers) and warm insoles. Other voluntary workers will shave the wool from small pieces and with it stuff quilts, cushions and pillows for the use of the men. Even polishing mats and mops may be contrived for military hospitals and camps. Throughout the process of collecting, tanning and making, firms have contributed generously in time, material, services and premises.