2020 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

Thankyou! I find it difficult to decide about throwing away an empty hand-cream tube, so sorting through boxes and bags and more bags of muddled stuff, sewing stuff but also paperwork, Xmas cards, empty hand-cream tubes, etc., etc., has been draining and exhausting, and I can't believe I stuck at it for two whole days...! 

Off for a bath now, as it won't matter that I keep bursting into tears if I'm in a bath  

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Thankyou! I find it difficult to decide about throwing away an empty hand-cream tube, so sorting through boxes and bags and more bags of muddled stuff, sewing stuff but also paperwork, Xmas cards, empty hand-cream tubes, etc., etc., has been draining and exhausting, and I can't believe I stuck at it for two whole days...! 

Off for a bath now, as it won't matter that I keep bursting into tears if I'm in a bath  

Enjoy your bath, Laura.  You have done a hell of a lot of work.  No wonder you feel exhausted.  Well done!

Personally speaking, I have only just sat down after walking to L!dl this morning.  (We bought our groceries, walked home and then I drove back to buy a new bread maker plus 2 huge bags of dishwasher tablets (on offer).  That was followed by a side trip to W8rose, to collect some make-up I’d ordered from JL, then home to make the quiche that I’d promised for lunch.)

Am I the only person who dreams about their stash?  It’s been mocking me in my sleep.  Mine is mostly yarn.  I think I’ve decided what to do with some of it, maybe the next 5 projects, but I’ve also been haunted by my WIPs in my sleep.  In the “Must Deal With It” corner are a short sleeve jumper that only needs its neck edged, two jumpers that just need the sleeves sewn in, two cardigans that need buttons and the Acer Cardigan that had one front longer than the other.  (It’s been disassembled, the front ripped back and is waiting for me to work out what I’ve done with the pattern.  I may have to reprint it, on a rare trip to the office.)

- Pip

Cherryfudge

CraftyLittleLisa said:

My main focus on making is making dolls clothes for my niece's Christmas present.  I have loads of small left overs of fabric and they are working perfectly.  So far she has a coat, hat,  scarf, boots, dressing gown, pyjamas, slippers, skirt, denim jacket, short sleeved blouse, bag and bolero.  The challenge for this week is to make a pair of jeans, a long sleeve blouse and knit a cardigan.  I'm planning on knitting a jumper as well but other than that I'm not sure what else a well dressed doll needs in these modern times.  She already has a couple of dresses and two pairs of shoes.  I'll have to have a think.  

Socks?

Cherryfudge

@Laura_Elsewhere and @PollyWollyDoodle, try googling something along the lines of 'using tiny scraps of fabric' - people are creating a sort of quilted effect which could turn into oven gloves, a waistcoat,  placemats etc.

Laura, that's a  brilliant job, well done. I thought I was the only one who struggles with throwing out 'silly' things. It may be our reasons are different but I do appreciate it is emotionally draining. Do you ever find you have a day when you can see it clearly ('like other people do', as I say to myself) and suddenly tackle an area? It's happened to me perhaps a handful of times, if that, but I'm a work in progress. Anyway, your organisation is laudable (so I'm lauding you ).

Laura_Elsewhere

CraftyLittleLisa said:

My main focus on making is making dolls clothes for my niece's Christmas present.  I have loads of small left overs of fabric and they are working perfectly.  So far she has a coat, hat,  scarf, boots, dressing gown, pyjamas, slippers, skirt, denim jacket, short sleeved blouse, bag and bolero.  The challenge for this week is to make a pair of jeans, a long sleeve blouse and knit a cardigan.  I'm planning on knitting a jumper as well but other than that I'm not sure what else a well dressed doll needs in these modern times.  She already has a couple of dresses and two pairs of shoes.  I'll have to have a think.  

When I have done that present I want to make a "pamper hamper" for my friend for her Christmas present.  My aim is to do it with eco-friendly things.  I want to knit a pair of slouchy socks and make some reusable make up remover pads.  I already have some nice bar soap and bar moisturiser, lavender epsom salts, scented candle, pretty flannel, soap scrub bag.  I thought I may get some nice hot chocolate to put in there as well.  I may make a lavender pillow as well.  Not sure what else, if anything, would be good.

I have also been thinking about presents that people could get me if they ask.  I don't really want "stuff" for the sake of it and that is why people generally ask me.  I have come up with one idea.  I need some new trainers so I thought I could get myself fitted for some and buy them and then they can contribute to them.  If it was then a present it wouldn't be any coupons and I would be getting something I really need and want.

@CraftyLittleLisa
The doll - well, how about a mask and carrying case?! When your niece brings the doll out for her grandchildren to play with, it'll be a real talking-point... Granny's doll with the mask - imagine one from 1918 with a little cotton mask against he flu pandemic!

I love the idea of a pamper hamper for your friend - lucky friend! Not trying to harp on, but what about a really pretty face-mask and carrying-bag? I'm planning to make something along those lines for my nieces for Xmas... there's a kind of bag that is four stiffened triangles fixed to a stiffened square base, with enough fabric between the triangles to allow it to open up a lot when set down and opened, and a drawstring at the top of the triangles pulls it all closed. I am thinking of making something about 6-8" tall on a base about 4" square (you can also do three triangles on a triangular base, or more on an octagonal/hexagonal, etc.), and putting little elasticated loops on the inside, so one holds a clean mask, one holds a plastic bag for putting the worn one in, one holds a little ziplock bag which has small pieces of towelling edges in pretty colours for reusable 'wet-wipes', etc... 

Brllliant on the "give me trainers" front - and it's what people used to do - Christmas and Birthdays were when you got new jumpers, slippers, dressing-gowns, all the larger purchases you couldn't necessarily afford during the year. Somehow that got lost, and it turned into "presents" meaning things you don't actually want, or need, and so our homes end up fuller and fuller... every year My Intended and I write our thankyou letters, sincerely-meant, as it is nice of people to think of us, and then take about 75% of our presents to charity shops... we're very careful not to break seals or open shrink-wrap unless we're quite sure we'll keep the thing  
MUCH more intelligent to ask for something specific, and let people chip in together to give you just what you really want - and how much nicer for the giver to get, oh I don't know, something like a postcard from your holiday next summer mentioning that your lovely trainers are letting you walk round all the places you want to visit without sore feet, or a notecard telling them you've finally reached a new milestone in fitness thanks in part to having the great trainers, etc. 

PollyWollyDoodle

That’s a great idea for a present Laura. I have made about 40 masks for friends and family, and since it now looks as if we’ll be wearing them for the foreseeable future I’m going to do some in Christmas fabric next.  And there in lies the problem… @Cherryfudge, thanks for the link but I have a feeling I would never get round to making that sort of thing. 

The hexagon quilt has already taken me several years (it’s only because I’ve been making masks and had scraps leftover that I picked it up again), then there is the alpacas sure there is about 7/8 done, the done,I have a feeling I would never get round to making that sort of thing. The hexagon quilt has already taken me several years (it’s only because I’ve been making masks and had scraps leftover that I picked it up again), then there is the alpaca shawl that is about 7/8 done but I’ve made a mistake in the pattern, the jumper I was sewing for my friend’s eldest son which will now only just fit her younger one - that only needs sewing up - several garments that I plan to dismantle and re-make in a smaller size.  And then there’s the jumper that I want to make for myself, the little jacket my niece wants for her new baby. And then the masks. I feel exhausted just thinking about it!

So I think I’m going to see sense, and put those scraps in the rag recycling. My promise to myself is that I’m not going to start a new project until I’ve completed one of the outstanding ones.

Laura_Elsewhere

@PollyWollyDoodle - my promise to myself yesterday was that I *am* allowed to start a new project but ONLY if I can really justify it to My Intended! If I can't explain clearly why it gets to take priority over existing unfinished projects then I can't start it, and if I can explain clearly then obviously it is right to start a new one  

I have some nice FQs send unsolicited by kind friends over the years (and some fairly awful ones...) and plan to make some nice autumnal masks, and yes, a Christmassy one or two too! And I shall look out for possible springlike fabrics too... 

PollyWollyDoodle

Oh dear, the gremlins seem to have got into my post above – I did check it before posting!  I am determined to get some of those UFOs finished. Some (rag rug, I’m looking at you) are going to the charity shop with a clear explanation of what they are/what is left to do and all necessary materials. I’m hoping the thought of starting a lovely new project will give me the impetus to finish the old ones.

PipneyJane

One of the reasons I have UFOs, is that I find I don't have the mental bandwidth to process the instructions for the "next step".  Stupid really, since it's usually only something like taking two minutes to change needles or pin something together to sew up.  Instead, I'll waste more time procrastinating than it takes to do.  (It's 5 years since I finished the beaded jumper.  It only needs the collar and cuff hems stitched into position.)

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane one of the things I did yesterday was, as each half-made thing emerged, I had to list what was needed to complete it (ie "assemble and sew" or "re-calculate sizing and re-knit" or "finish knitting" or "cut out, assemble and sew", etc.), and that's all written down. 
So now I can look through a list of half-made things and decide what to do, knowing in advance what I need to do. 

And the two bright-green plastic boxes, those are "quick fix" boxes, one for mending and one for finishing - only three or four projects in each that need minimal work done to make them finished and wearable...

Everything else is in the box for unravelling and winding into wool for re-use, or the big pile for sorting into "bis of fabric large enough to be useful - file in Ikea boxes" or "scraps too small to use - textile recycling bag".

Probably 50 or 60 projects, I would say. And a depressing number being abandoned and reduced to original ingredients for re-use. 

It's a learning curve. My Gran would be horrified at the wastefulness...