Parachute nightdress among recycled items on display at Devon fashion exhibition

National Trust aims to inspire visitors to reapply forgotten skills to make their clothes more sustainable

Some of the garments in the exhibition are made of elegant silk, others of rough-looking wool or scratchy nylon – but what they all have in common is that they have been repaired, remodelled and reused, sometimes over the course of centuries.

There is a long-sleeved waistcoat made in the late 17^tth century and then adapted and preserved over 300 years, wedding dresses handed down from mothers to daughters and brought up to date with clever tweaks, even clothes that were created during the second world war out of parachutes and old army blankets when fabric was rationed.