2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

Nonnadiluca said:

Is anyone else as ridiculously excited as I am that the Sewing Bee is back next week?

I wasn't as I hadn't known, but I am now  

I hadn't ever watched it, having assumed it was as uninteresting to me as the Bake Off thing.... then I watched one and got hooked.
I still find it frustrating - why on earth don't they have a five minute bit in the middle with someone explaining and showing, f'rinstance, different ways to put in zips, or how to hem a curved edge, or how binding raw edges can make a simple item look and feel really special, or how to get facings to lie flat, all those sorts of things that lots of people have fiddly problems with, and which would be really helpful! I just wish they would include a few minutes, literally 4 or 5 would do it, so that people get to improve as they watch and perhaps have courage to try something more... 

But I do enjoy it. I tend to watch a whole series over a couple of days. 

Laura_Elsewhere

@maryb, that cashmere-wool coating sounds gorgeous! What style of coat will you make and what will you line it in - plain dark unobtrusive lining or glorious flashing sapphire-blue/ emerald-green/ruby-red? I came late to real tailoring but I do love it... 

I have started my OCD-niece's Covid-bag, made from that1939 gasmask-handbag pattern but My Intended keeps having work-calls so I can't use the sewing-machine... the calls aren't all the time, but they seem to be just when I was about to get going on the sewing!  

maryb

https://bemorewithless.com/project-333-challenge/

This explains the 333 challenge better than I can.  I have to confess, when I first read about it I thought who on earth has more clothes than that?  But they do add up.  I strike a balance now because it doesn't make eco sense to have so few clothes you have to run the washing machine more often with smaller loads

PipneyJane

maryb said:

https://bemorewithless.com/project-333-challenge/

This explains the 333 challenge better than I can.  I have to confess, when I first read about it I thought who on earth has more clothes than that?  But they do add up.  I strike a balance now because it doesn't make eco sense to have so few clothes you have to run the washing machine more often with smaller loads

That's an interesting read.  Thanks for the link @maryb.  If you think about earlier conversations we've had about capsule wardrobes, I guess that one of the hardest lessons I had to learn was to buy/make items of clothing that can go in more than one outfit.  It's ironic that this principle was something I worked out while sitting at my typewriter in my first job, but still had to re-learn it a decade later when I started making a lot of my own work clothes.  I made the most beautiful Vogue designer suit, in a purple-y blue.  It always got me compliments.  BUT it was such a noticeable design and colour that I could only wear it once every six months.  All that effort - plus 10% of my take-home pay for fabric - and I couldn't wear it.  (Before I "came out" to my accounting-firm-employers that I was studying accountancy,  I stupidly wore it to work on the day when I had exams at Ally Pally, where I had to sit, sweltering in my coat, while I hid from a colleague.  He would have noticed me if I hadn't had my coat on.  The suit was in his favourite colour.)

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

The 333 challenge also fits with our wartime approach - all those little blouses and jumpers with removable interchangeable decorative touches like collars and so on... so you could wear the same garment repeatedly without it looking the same...

Wraithlady

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I still find it frustrating - why on earth don't they have a five minute bit in the middle with someone explaining and showing, f'rinstance, different ways to put in zips, or how to hem a curved edge, or how binding raw edges can make a simple item look and feel really special, or how to get facings to lie flat, all those sorts of things that lots of people have fiddly problems with, and which would be really helpful! I just wish they would include a few minutes, literally 4 or 5 would do it, so that people get to improve as they watch and perhaps have courage to try something more... 

But I do enjoy it. I tend to watch a whole series over a couple of days. 

They did in the first series, but it was incredibly basic stuff insufficiently explained. I think there was a quote from the BBC to the effect of the programme was 'entertainment' so they decided to junk any 'how-to's' as they weren't entertaining enough.

Though it's nice that more people got interested in having a go at sewing. I suppose YouTube got a lot of hits

PollyWollyDoodle

I agree, I would love some technical explanation. All the same I’m very excited that it’s coming back, I really enjoy it. I love the refashion challenges where they have to make a second-hand item into something else, although sometimes the garments they produce are a bit weird. 

Cherryfudge

3 coupons spent on yarn: once again the stash-busting gremlin is at work and I have more than I had a couple of days ago. Was it you, @Laura_Elsewhere, who said I must be buying the Wrong Stuff? I think one of these is definitely Wrong Stuff...

I was finishing a piece of knitting for a gift and annoyingly ran out of yarn with just a few yards needed, so I had to buy another ball and it's now complete - and I have about 90g of the yarn over.

Then my DDiL admired the net grocery bag I'd made myself so I've decided to surprise her with one of her own. I couldn't decide between a plain cotton and a self-striping one (would the stripes be too broken up by the net?). Having bought a plain grey and a gorgeous alternative in shades of grey/blue/lavender, I can report that the self-striping version looks great as a net bag and the grey needs to go back. Not exactly stash-busting as I may yet ask to trade it in for another stripy one and foist another net bag on someone - they are so easy to make and have the added virtues of being useful, eco-friendlyish and mid-century.

I'm going to add a proud little boast here - I worked out what was the problem with the pattern and decided how I might put it right. There is a row of K1, M1, K2tog followed by a row in which only one of the M1s is knitted. This is meant to make holes for the drawstring, and this happens at the beginning and end of the pattern. Those of you who knit and can count will have realised that this makes one end a lot narrower than the other! So I adapted a row by increasing every third stitch and it very nearly got back to the starting point as intended. Okay so I had 51 stitches instead of 50, but that's lost in a net bag and it all fitted together nicely. That's not up to the intricacies of pattern adjustment I've often seen here, but it's a satisfying feeling.

Cherryfudge

I'm another who's really looking forward to Sewing Bee, and I'd like explanations too.

PipneyJane

@Laura_Elsewhere - did you mention to anyone at Ewe-and-Ply about the Fashion on the Ration Challenge?  I have a feeling that one of their team must follow our thread.  They’ve just given me a small refund.  Nothing is out of stock, but they’ve reduced their price...

@Cherryfudge - those “M1”s that you mention, are they meant to be yarn-overs?  That would give you holes for the drawstring and a yarn over would tolerate being stretched over two rows.  (I’m assuming that you knit all the stitches on the third row.)

- Pip