Did your mother make you wear a Liberty bodice?

aldom I wore one in the 60s and we did not have central heating! I remember a firelighter that resembled an old fashioned hair dryer pointing at the fire, the clothes horse in front of the fire with the vest etc warming on it.

I was born in 1954 and remember my sister and I wearing them. I remember the rubber buttons. Our kind mummy kept them warm overnight in the airing cupboard so they were cosy to put on.

My other memory of winter was the spoonful of malt, thick stuff twirled around a spoon that we were given every day. (? Virol) we hated it at first (I remember gagging) but we grew to like the taste - so much so we would lick the spoon!

Didn't have a liberty bodice....not heard of them to be honest. I had trouble getting my mother to buy me a bra, I think she would have let me wear vests till I left school if she had her way!

Born 1954, never wore a liberty bodice. I do remember wearing a vest with short sleeves and definitely hand knitted jumpers and cardigans. No central heating so clothes were taken into be our beds for a few minutes to warm them before we got up.

My Granny told me about them but I suspect Mum wouldn’t have it so I didn’t wear one. Childproof vest, Viyella blouses, big knickers, long woollen socks and tunics (for school). I had a very itchy pair of tartan trousers that I fought against wearing. Gabardine raincoat, woolly knitted hats and gloves with elastic. All clothes were repaired until they were too small and everything was bought one size too big. ?

Chilproof. I changed it several times. ?

Oh yes but I do not remember the rubber buttons. Money was tight so my mother forgot I grew out of clothes so I remember the liberty bodice being very tight but it did keep me warm with all of the other layers.

Vest, Liberty bodice (does anyone know why it was called this), knitted jumper and a woollen scarf crossed over at the front and pinned at the back! No wonder I am such a coldie now!!!

I had forgotten about the scarf crossed over the front and tucked into the belt of your coat at the back! I remember longing for a shop bought jumper. My brother and I had ‘siren suits’ lined with flock I suppose, they took ages to dry. I used to wait till the last minute to run for the loo.....with the inevitable result so that stopped any more play outside till the suit dried!

Yes to liberty bodice with rubber buttons, yes to the spoonful of malt, the gabardine mac, brown gymslip, pigtails.

Marydoll are you thinking of the kilts with a vest attached ?

I wanted knee length white socks. Not allowed, my mother said they were “common”??

Newatthis

Vest, Liberty bodice (does anyone know why it was called this), knitted jumper and a woollen scarf crossed over at the front and pinned at the back! No wonder I am such a coldie now!!!

I’d guess it was freedom from corsets ?

I wore a liberty bodice, with a vest underneath. I don't remember the buttons, although there are some rubber buttons in my mum's button tin. My bodice was always tight after it had been washed and my mum used to put it on me then push her hands up the front and push me (nicely!) back and forth to stretch it!

I also wore the big knickers, navy blue later but brown at junior school. They had a pocket in the front for a hanky and I was forever losing my hanky when I went to the loo.

I remember jokes about The Man Who Shot Liberty Bodice when that film came out in 1962, but I had no idea what it was, and probably thought it was more interesting than seems to be the case. And no, there was no boys’ equivalent, as one of you asked.

Our primary school classroom had two coke stoves for heating, one at the front of the class where the teacher and all the brainy children sat, and the other at the opposite corner where all the kids who didn't try Sat.
Those of us in the middle average group froze. I can remember my hands being so cold I could hardly hold a pen.
We had dip in pens and the ink had a thin layer of ice crystals on it first thing in a morning. The free school milk stood round the stoves to thaw out as it rose higher than the cardboard lids. We needed those bodicies. I wonder if the Boys wore them.

Yes! remember those, we seemed to be going through a permanent ice age back then, even in the soft south, or maybe it was the lack of central heating It has to be really cold before I get my coat out these days.

These reminisces have reminded me of milk frozen in the bottles that rose up through the tops, which we either sucked or melted on huge chunky radiators. Also striped school scarves with fringes on the end. They were double knitted material and we pushed one fringed end into the scarf and pulled it on our heads, draping the other end on our necks, so that our hair wouldn’t get wet when we played snowballing at break time.

Definitely have fond memories of the Liberty bodice (complete with rubber buttons) that I wore in the late 1950s/early 1960s. They were very comforting indeed. I remember my dad making up the fire every morning with newspaper, wood and (I think) some coal. It was the age of just keeping one room warm. We had a “living kitchen” as my mum called it. Today it would be called a small dining kitchen/breakfast room. She would put our clothes in a very low oven to warm them (I would not advise it to anyone, but that’s what she did!). I recall ice on the inside of the bedroom windows, but I don’t ever remember feeling cold in the house. We must have had hot water bottles at bedtime, I would guess.

Yes, and my doll had one as well!
I also remember chilprufe vests with very thin ribbons at the neckline which got knotted so you couldn't pull them over your head, and you had to wear them under your party frock so the sleeves poked out under the glamorous puffed sleeves and angora bolero.
Vest battles continued long into secondary school, until I consented to wear a royal blue vest to match the long johns (strictly forbidden) which I wore under my tunic.

Yes wore Liberty bodice and a spoonful of Virol every morning. ?

Yes?‍♀️!

Another yes here, a liberty bodice, malt and cod liver oil, hot sweet porridge, off to school in a duffel coat and a woolly hat and woolly mittens ( on tapes) we were the lucky ones eh?
I remember children wearing pumps and thin coats.

I have very vague recollections of a liberty bodice as a small child - the rubber buttons definitely ring a bell. Much worse was the handknitted vest my grandma made me wear!

I wore Liberty bodices with the rubber buttons and mum always said I couldn’t leave it off until June. Even if we had a heatwave in May.
Warm hats were knitted by mum. They clipped on the head by a metal headband threaded through a channel in the knitting and finished off with a wool pom-pom sewn on the back.
My friend lived across the road from me and her mum knitted her similar hats so we were happy to wear them.

Lordy! Liberty bodices with those rubber buttons which didn't survive the copper boiler treatment and became flattened and twisted, the Saturday night bath, hairwash and sleeping with wet hair wound round strips of cloth to form ringlets on Sunday,cod liver oil followed by a pear drop, ice on the inside of bedroom window....The Good Old Days?

I have a mental image of one so I must have.
Luckily M&D took us to Nigeria to live so we didn’t need them for long.