2020 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

[Deleted User]

I really, really like those culottes in the photograph did you make them or are they shop bought? I'd really like some for me.

maryb

I bought a whole load of Knit Pro Karbonz, the ones with the carbon fibre shafts and metal tips.  They produced a beautifully even stitch but eventually I found that the join between the tip and the shaft started catching.  Most annoying.  I'm gradually replacing them with Zings.  I like the fact the different sizes are different colours so it's easy to tell them apart

Laura_Elsewhere

boazu said:

I really, really like those culottes in the photograph did you make them or are they shop bought? I'd really like some for me.

I made them by mistake! They were supposed to be a divided skirt but I forgot to add the extra width to the pattern piece above the crotch-line so effectively what I made were a pair of trousers wth each leg being a cone-shape, with an infamous 82-inch hem to each leg! Thank heavens for iron-on hem-tape... sort of a bit like if you took two nearly circular-skirts and sewed them together at the middle to make trousers of them! 

joedenise

Wow!  they're long hems!  Wouldn't fancy hand sewing them.  I usually hand stitch hems as I think they look neater but think if I had something that wide I would definitely be using the iron on stuff!

Laura_Elsewhere

@joedenise - yes, I'm a bit of a one for enjoying using contrasting ribbon or tape to turn up a bound hem, but I looked at these and thought, Wundaweb!!!!  

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@PipneyJane

"I caught 20 seconds of You Are What You Wear on BBC1 the other night, just as the fashion expert was talking about how stretch jeans fit and flatter."

They weren't talking about me, then... 

My backside isn't a problem - but the silhouette is! A back-end like Kim Kardashian, or rather like several Kim Kardashians, and a pot-belly like a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig to boot   

Imagine this middle image, only with 16 stone of excess Lauraness as well as the shape-deformity! A skirt covers a multitude of weird shapes  



My favourite pair of Accidental Trousers as an example of how to cover up weird shapes   

That’s a lovely photo of you, Laura.  Those trousers suit you and make you look balanced - no way would I know you had a sway back.  Is that gateway in Shrewsbury, by any chance?  I’ve only been there the once, but it looks familiar. 

On the subject of fitting trousers, there’s a lot to be said for some well-placed darts at the back.  I just wish that more womenswear shops offered fitting services and alterations.  20 years ago, Max Mara’s outlet shop at Bicester won my loyalty because they fitted me for a double breasted, black, wool crepe, trouser suit and treated me as if I was a Bond Street customer paying full price.  Complete with alterations, that suit cost me £286, and I still regret giving it away when I lost weight.  (The original list price was nearly £800.).  Sadly, they are now chasing the “fashion customer” not the classic-wear one and the outlet store’s clothes are horrible.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane - it's in central Coventry, a lovely little courtyard of almshouses from the 16th century that survived the bombing. 

Thankyou for the compliments! The Accidental Trousers were made of cotton sateen, furnishing fabric being sold for an inexplicable £1/m in Dunelm one day so I bought ten metres, and used it for all kinds of experimenting - it was wider than usual too, I think something like 175cm, 180cm wide. The fronts finally tore, as it was my first-ever button-fly and I never did get it quite right. Luckily I had a bag with me to carry over the gap til I got home!  
But I do plan to make another pair - it's a bit stupid of me not to have done, because these are the only thing I've ever worn that's had total strangers come up and tell me how much they like my outfit! Several different times, and both young and my-age people at that... 

Note To Self: make another pair!! 

borscht

I've just realised second hand clothing is exempt. 
I've been agonising over a couple of dresses on ebay, so I shall now go and hit BUY with a clear conscience.

PipneyJane

borscht said:

I've just realised second hand clothing is exempt. 
I've been agonising over a couple of dresses on ebay, so I shall now go and hit BUY with a clear conscience.

Yes.  All secondhand purchases are exempt, including eBay and charity shop “brand new with tags”.

- Pip

thriftwizard

Caught up again! Note to self - keep up, even when attempting to redecorate the house & declutter... Still haven't bought any more clothes, mainly because I haven't needed anything. Equally, I still haven't cut up my gardening top to make knickers - will it ever happen?! 

We're all cheering the quarantine news; on balance of probability, we WILL be going to France for the wedding in September. This will be when my coupons suddenly vanish!