2020 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

CraftyLittleLisa

PipneyJane said:

@CraftyLittleLisa - I hope you feel better soon.  I love the Miss Fisher novels and tv series. Did you know that there is a movie?  It’s currently playing in cinemas in Australia and the USA.

I must confess to being a little biased. As well as them being set in my home town,  I used to sing with the author, Kerry Greenwood, and her partner.  I had dinner with Kerry the night after she signed her first publishing contract.

- Pip

A movie - fabulous.  If we are allowed to go to the cinemas when it comes over I will definitely go to see that.  The stories are just fabulous.  They are so clever but also it is nice to have something that is a little lighthearted, especially in these very sombre times.

Anyway, back to the challenge.  Well you know I said I wasn't going to make any more clothes this month?  Well I'm afraid I failed.  I made a pair of shorts using up what was left of the denim reversible fabric I used to make a pinafore dress earlier this year.  I'm really pleased with them again although I did make a little mistake.  I'm still trying to decide whether I can be bothered to rectify that bit or not.  I have now calculated that is another 3 coupons used.

Keeping on the frugal side, but staying within the "crafting" area, I did use up some fabric and the stuffing from an old pillow to make two cushions for my lounge and I attacked my rag bag and found an old dressing gown and an old pair of pyjama pants which I cut up into squares and turned into "reusable toilet paper" - I won't be worrying about toilet roll panic buying now.  I'm also still working through my baby wool stash to make premature baby bits and pieces.

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Does anyone else feel like this has sort of become rather a lot more like an actual wartime community? 

I'm planning to start re-reading the various wartime journals and Mass Observation books I have. I need to spend time with those women, to borrow their calmness and strength of mind and organisation and determination... 

Yes.  Me.  It’s weird.  I got home from Huntingdon tonight in record time (1 hour 25 minutes).  The M1 and M25 were empty.  We were joking at work about the zombie apocalypse starting.  If you see Simon Pegg, RUN!!!

On a more serious note, as I drove home, I was listening to Dan Snow interviewing the virologist Professor John Oxford about the lessons learned from the Spanish Flu pandemic.  It was fascinating.  The professor talked about the spread of the disease in America and how they can measure the effectiveness of various containment/preventative measures on a city by city basis, because such measures were recorded.  (Most effective were hand washing, face masks and isolation.)   He also talked about the probability that the outbreak began in 1916 on the battlefields of Europe, but took 2 or 3 winters to really get going.  The alternative theory is that it started Kansas in 1917.

- Pip

ETA:  I’ve wondered for a while how our great grandparents faced the Spanish Flu; what they thought; how they acted/reacted.  It’s also occurred to me that there’s another parallel between what we’re about to witness and the start of the Great Depression.  So many businesses will suffer and some will go bust.  

PollyWollyDoodle

Yes Laura, it does - in the sense that things are changing so rapidly, I don’t know what to expect; exceptional times. I couldn’t have imagined Broadway or the West End closing down, major sporting fixtures being cancelled and borders being closed. I think - even if I am able to work - that I’m going to be spending a lot of time at home in the next weeks as all my usual occupations are closed down. I’m waiting to hear about my calligraphy class and whether the swimming pool stays open. 

diminua

PipneyJane said:

diminua said:

Do we have a rule on cushion covers? I've bought three as the lovely patchwork silk ones I had were falling to bits. The new ones are heavy cotton - maybe 2 yards of material at 2 coupons a yard would be about right? So I'm now down to 58 coupons.

Cushion covers are household items, so we won’t penalise you and the cost won’t come out of your coupons.   Remember, people who suffered bomb damage during the blitz got extra coupons to replace household fabrics, including cushion covers.  

Thanks for clarifying that, Pip. I've amended my signature. 

In light of government advice I've been told to work from home tomorrow - all non-essential meetings have been cancelled. I am going through central London again in the evening to get the train up to Chester to see my brother, but will cancel if I feel at all unwell. Neither of us is in a risk group, but its the danger of spreading it about. Either way it'll just be a quiet St Patrick's day drink in rather than the pub we envisaged. 

Anzac_Biscuit

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Does anyone else feel like this has sort of become rather a lot more like an actual wartime community? 

I'm planning to start re-reading the various wartime journals and Mass Observation books I have. I need to spend time with those women, to borrow their calmness and strength of mind and organisation and determination... 

Absolutely. I think with shortages of various items and with the uncertainty and disruption to normal daily routines, we will have to start thinking very much like the wartime wives did. Creative thinking, mending, keeping up what routines we can and boosting morale  

dolly84

Business as usual for us here, we are all healthy and are going out and about and chatting with people, there is no way I will be putting my life on hold for something like this.  I think the 'staying at home for 4 months' thing has been misinterpreted according to the government, I am only in my 40's so it doesn't apply but if it did I would still go out, if this is the thing that gets you then it is the thing that gets you - we all have to go at some point.  I am very worried for business though, small ones particularly and think we should be supporting them through this the best that we can.

I bought a H&M tunic top a while ago for £1 from a CS, it is white with a blue oakleaf print, little turn back sleeves and a pleat to the front, I loved the print but tunics are never the right length on me, I am too tall to wear them as a dress and they look wrong as tops so yesterday I chopped the bottom off and hemmed it and it is a really cute little top now.

CAFCGirl

I have concluded my non quarantine behaviours are pretty much my standard behaviours LOL I was self isolating long before this all kicked off.
It has however made me more 'wholesome' in my productivity, so there's been more knitting with a good show on the tv, but I'm more mindful on it - if that makes sense.
I have also earmarked that which can be used for toilet wipes should the mass hysteria continue.
Hubby is in the emergency services so whilst my anxiety/agoraphobia is protective, I then get the elevated risk from him... so I'm probably level playing field now. 
There's a little sense of fear around my little fledgling business though, but I'm hopeful that the good hearted nature and social media posts about supporting the 'little man' will hold true for me. I too am on the lookout for them, and will endeavour to use them even more when this eases (those whom I need to physically visit) to help them recover.

CraftyLittleLisa

The update from me is I will be working from home from Monday. I'm asthmatic so am in the at risk group so I will have to be careful but my main concern is how I will be emotionally. All my exercise classes have been cancelled for the foreseeable and with no work I may start feeling very down very quickly. This group is probably going to be a real lifesaver so thank you everyone in advance. 

On the plus side I think a lot of money is going to be saved over the next few weeks.

Stay safe. X

Laura_Elsewhere

Lisa, one thing that friends of mine found really useful in working from home was to be really definite about the separation between "I am at work" and "I am at home".  Some would even leave the house, walk round the block, and come back in, hacing "commuted" - and so long as the pavement is empty enough for you to keep a good 6 foot or more away from anyone else, then this kind of short brisk walk is being encouraged - added bonus, if you push your sleeves up and get some daylight on your skin then this will help keep your mood from plummeting! 
Once "at work", my friends treated the rest of their home like it wasn't there. Just like being in the office, they stayed at or near their desk, and just ignored everything domestic. If going to the kitchen they treated that like the office kitchen, and didn't get side-tracked into sorting laundry or whatever. 
Then at the end of the morning, they would "go home for lunch" and take the full break allowed for lunchtime, before leaving the house again to "walk to work" for the afternoon. And then of course walking "home from work"!

You end up doing four short walks, throughout the day, which helps in lots of ways. Also, because you are going outside, you get dressed properly - there are lots of people who say staying in and wearing PJs is how they work best - and I've never worked from home so can't say my own opinion, but I certainly don't know anyone who really works from home who prefers staying in jammies! 

I hope you stay safe and well - one of my nieces has asthma and yes, we are all very worried about her as she's very vulnerable. 

PollyWollyDoodle

I have been self-employed and mainly homeworking for the last five years, although I do have to go out for some parts of my job. You make your own rules, but one of mine is that I’m always up and dressed by 9 am, so if the phone rings I’m in business mode. Staying in your PJ’s is a recipe for disaster in my humble opinion. I don’t do the walks that Laura describes, although I may be incorporating those if the swimming pool closes, but I do keep work very separate, e.g. I work at my desk in the spare room/office and not on the sofa or at the kitchen table. All of that doesn’t help with the isolation though! Could you set up times for phone call or WhatsApp chats with friends?  A lot of my friends are working from home at the moment, and I’m going to try and arrange a walk with them in their lunch hour. It is hard at the moment, I always try and factor at least one social activity into my day but everything that I normally do has been cancelled or postponed.