Wartime production embroidery pattern, 'Pandora' design tray cloth : Mrs B Sayers, South Perth

Calico based transfer tray cloth pattern, displaying Design No 234 - 'Pandora' garden wall. Printed along the base of the cloth are the following: 'Wartime Production' ; '14 x 20 No S234'. The pattern is unworked. Stapled to the upper right of the cloth is a paper instruction sheet, showing the completed design in colour, and a list of recommended colours and materials. Pencilled next to the sheet on the calico is the price, 2/6.

Australian made transfer embroidery pattern produced during the Second World War and purchased in Adelaide. Normally these embroidery sets were printed on fine linen or cotton poplin but due to the wartime austerity and rationing programs, these examples are printed on a coarse unbleached calico. This and the other examples (see REL35987, REL35988 and REL35989) were purchased in Adelaide by Mrs Beatrice Sayers of South Perth during the Second World War. Mrs Sayers and her mother were keen embroiderers, but appear to never have spent much time working these patterns, with only small sections of two examples done. Beatrice Sayers' husband, WX13367 Gunner Edward Ronald Sayers, enlisted on 21 May 1941 and served with 2 Australian Anti-Aircraft Regiment until his discharge on 26 October 1945.