A special find & a plea for help...embroidered RAF nightdress case!

Now I picked up this incredible little beauty just before Christmas for a princely sum of £8. I wasn't meant to be spending on myself pre-Christmas, but how exactly was I meant to resist such a find? Especially when, the previous week, my trusty leather pyjama case split. It seemed fitting to replace it with this lovely piece.

 

Fantastic Mr Fox insisted on popping his head into the frame. I think he has done a pretty fine job of posing in this, don't you?

 

Just look at the lovely embroidery work!

I immediately thought of the amazing RAF embroidery that the darling Tickety Boo Tupney has both aqcuired and  been working on herself.

Now, as with practically everything else I acquire, I wish so much to know the back story behind this case. Often items featuring RAF emblem embroidery was either worked by a gal and then given to her WWII serviceman, or given as a gift by a serviceman to his sweetheart (purchased whilst away from a local, or embroidered himself to keep him occupied in any spare time). 

Now, I scratched my head a little with this one. A gal couldn't have made this for her RAF darling (I'm not sure a nightdress would have been his sleepwear of choice), and all that ruching detail just seems a little too feminine to have been worked by a serviceman.

So, a souvenir bought on tour and sent back to his sweetheart seemed the most fitting explanation, no?

Then I stumbled across this image on a website selling vintage homewares....

 

Image from Steptoes Dog.

 

Huh? It's EXACTLY the same. A pink version of my beloved nightdress case.

For sale on a website called Steptoes Dog, this is the description:

"Vintage 1940s Pink Royal Air Force Night Dress Case. This is a really pretty vintage nightdress case, dating to circa 1948." 

So now I am scratching my head far more vigorously. With this hand embroidery I assumed it was a one off piece, handmade as a souvenir by a WWII RAF serviceman on tour. So how come these two are EXACTLY the same?? And I wonder how the shop arrived at the 1948 date?

So, this is a plea to you clever and much more informed souls out there in the world of the interweb, please help me shed some light on this, for else I shall be forever puzzled!

Pip pip x