2020 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane - not brave at all really - have you ever known knitting to unravel *sideways*?! It generally doesn't, not easily... And I sew the ribbon on first, cut it, and then fold the ribbon under and sew it down, so the cut ends are tucked away inside with nothing pulling on them... 
 

DrCarrie

Oh my, I love this challenge. I hope it will run next year!?

All of your socks are amazing!

PipneyJane

DrCarrie said:

Oh my, I love this challenge. I hope it will run next year!?

All of your socks are amazing!

Hi @DrCarrie.  Thank you. Yes, we will be running next year.  You are very welcome to stay and play, even if you don't count coupons until next year.  Please pull up a (socially distant) chair and join us around the fireplace in the Much Mending village hall.  Don't mind the dog or the cat - they just want new people to enslave.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

Oooh, I made another fruitcake today - just in time, as we have a new member! 

@DrCarrie, do help yourself! I think there might be a bit of @PipneyJane's last cake around if you prefer... where's that cake-tin gone... 

It's a nice little village here, Much Mending on the Borrow, and a wide and welcoming bunch too, even though There's A War On, hence the clothing coupons - we've even gone a bit international these days, with @TwibbleDee from Texas (her husband must be stationed on the nearby Air Base)...! 

Laura_Elsewhere

I have a waist problem. 

No, not the fruitcakes and sausage rolls I keep making. Well, maybe a bit  
But more to the point, I have lousy postural muscles and so when I sit down my waist increases by almost three inches. You can imagine the waistband problem - make it to fit standing and buttons ping off and zips bust when I sit; make it to fit when I sit and it sags and droops when I stand... so for years I've made every skirt with belt-loops and worn woven-elastic belts. It looks okay, especially as I've several colours of them, but the belts are gradually getting slacker and slacker as their elastic fades... 

So I've tracked down a pair of old-fashioned button-braces on eBay, in their original packaging, and am now sewing three pairs of buttons on my green silky everyday skirt to see how it works - almost all the time I wear cardis or waistcoats anyway so the braces won't show... and if it does work, then I might make braces for my skirts as part of the design in future... 

joedenise

How about pinafore style, bit like the gym slips of old like we used to wear when we were at school years ago?

Laura_Elsewhere

@joedenise - I always loved those, but it would use another metre or so of fabric as there's a fair amount of me...! Whereas piecing enough to make straps for the front of braces (in trad braces, it's the back that is stretchy), that's a lot more doable!

btw, @thriftwizard has made THE most fabulous rag rug which looks wonderful, so I think we need one for the Village Hall here - will you make us one, please?  

skogar

Laura - Pip beat me to asking about your jumper - I was wondering how you would stop in unravelling.

Pip - thanks for the travelling loop explanation - I can see how that would work - will add it to my long list of things I need to try. I do keep trying new things - but just find new things to add to the list so it just gets longer and longer.....

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@joedenise - I always loved those, but it would use another metre or so of fabric as there's a fair amount of me...! Whereas piecing enough to make straps for the front of braces (in trad braces, it's the back that is stretchy), that's a lot more doable!

btw, @thriftwizard has made THE most fabulous rag rug which looks wonderful, so I think we need one for the Village Hall here - will you make us one, please?  

Really?  I must have missed that photo.  Link (or photo), please?

skogar said:

Laura - Pip beat me to asking about your jumper - I was wondering how you would stop in unravelling.

Pip - thanks for the travelling loop explanation - I can see how that would work - will add it to my long list of things I need to try. I do keep trying new things - but just find new things to add to the list so it just gets longer and longer.....

What worries me more about steeking - the technique Laura used on her cardigan -  is maintaining a straight line. 

- Pip (The only reason I can sew a straight seam is that there's a guide widget I can screw into the footplate of my sewing machine.)

thriftwizard

Herewith:
I am quite chuffed with it! It's the remains of 3 old moth-eaten wool blankets, woven on a warp of raggedy old polycotton duvet cover. A quick technique, once you've cut or torn your materials; luckily I have an American gadget that helps. It took the odd hour here & there over 3 days to make.