2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

Thanks everyone.  DH got the written offer and contract through yesterday afternoon.  I had a read - it looks good.  He’ll start on the 26th.

@thriftwizard - I have reported their profile on Ravelry.  I am tempted to report them to Trading Standards, too, but I’m not certain that’s the correct department to deal with abusive piecework rates.  Looking at their website, they have no idea how much time it takes to make things.  They’re selling pairs of crochet booties for £20.

- Pip

CAFCGirl

Hooray for Mr Pip.
I hope he enjoys the role!

Whats tragic is that there will be plenty of people who do sign up for that, because the value thats assigned to that type of creation is so low. I think the assumption is that people do it as a hobby so therefore getting paid 'anything' for their time is generous and that really irks me! 
I only loom knit but I've had people ask me to make them throws and blankets, offer to pay for the yarn and then say 'plus a bit extra for your time, say £25'.
For something that takes me circa 30 hours?! Then make me feel like I should be grateful for their kindness - I think not.

Then of course, it goes down the 'well I could get one for £30 in the home department at xyz' 
As consumers we are spoilt by mass sweat shop/factory produced stuff and the throwaway nature of it all.

*gets yanked down from soap box before she completely ruins afternoon tea in the hall*

Laura_Elsewhere

*::hands @CAFCGirl the small stepladder and helps her back up onto the soapbox::*

You're in good company here - some of us make things, some of us don't, but all of us are sick to the back teeth of a culture that encourages us to buy clothes for tuppence, paying a farthing to the worker, and then throw it away a few weeks later... 

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane, wonderful news about Mr Pip's job - it must be a relief... 

And good news from my end too: my friend's surgeon is confident they got all of the tumour in the operation, so we're hopeful she can start to pick up the pieces of her newly-widowed life but at least she and her lovely mum don't have to face metastases...! 

CAFCGirl

Yes @Laura_Elsewhere
I'm also fed up of my 'friends' thinking I'm being smarmy or elevated self importance by suggesting that they buy one elsewhere if that's how much they want to pay for someone else's work.
I should add though a couple of friends have been more than happy to pay the price I quoted to them, and have often sent a bit more as a tip. I've still 'undercharged' them in terms of a minimum wage equivalent but its a price I'm happy to work for, and isn't advertised nor expected rate of pay etc

Oh what lovely news for your friend, after everything. Much speedy healing and wellness to her!

Laura_Elsewhere

@Cherryfudge - thankyou for your notes and for posting the lovely photo of your bag - I converted it to knit in the round, using 4-ply cotton and 3.5mm needles, and I've now got a little string-bag to take shopping, to hold onions or oranges or what-have-you inside my larger bag to stop them going everywhere! 

I shall be actively considering making some of these for Xmas presents for family, in lovely bright primary colours and in thicker yarn probably (this was just what I had to hand). 

PollyWollyDoodle

Oh I love that bag!

I have lost count of the number of people who, when I said I was giving up full-time work to become self-employed, suggested that I could sew or knit things and sell them.  As said above, they seem to think that because it’s a hobby, any sort of payment is a bonus. I wish more people appreciated the value of properly made clothing, and the true cost of the cheap stuff. On Monday morning, when I saw that people have been queueing from 7 am outside a well-known cheap clothing store, I felt despair.

It’s a bit like the ‘£5 for two chickens’ offers - how on earth do people think they are produced, to be sold at these prices? I’m not knocking anyone who is struggling financially and needs to cut their budget, but it just drives producers/suppliers down. Is there room for another one on that soapbox? 😀

CAFCGirl

Always room for more. 
Maybe less box and more stage 

Ah yes the chicken offers and the price of milk! I don't think people would consume nearly as much of these things if they had to pay true market value (i.e without subsidies to the industry). Not that I wish to see those in the sector go bust or farms sent into ruin, but I want them to be paid fairly. Seems they're just as held over a barrel!

Laura_Elsewhere

Yes, when  I posted the pics of my string bag on social media, the very first comment was that I should start a business.... and that from someone who makes quilts so should know better! 

This is a small bag, half a dozen oranges, that sort of size, and I reckon it took me 4 or 5 hours to make. So, minimum wage in UK is £8.91, call it four hours, so that's £35.64 for labour alone... 

Do we see them queuing up to pay forty quid for a small string bag? Noooo, thought not... 

Anyone offers to buy one, I shall offer - seriously - to teach them. It really isn't a hard pattern for a beginner... 

Laura_Elsewhere

Bear in mind that chicken always used to be a luxury meat - the only reason it became cheap is factory/battery farming. 

In 1942, in Britain, it was partway between - for most people it was still a luxury, but there were starting to be industrial units producing for big companies, who kept selling at the previous prices but paying less for the ingredients, thus boosting profits exactly like Ribena et al did with the sugar tax (which they chose to allow to be applicable to their product, so that they could switch to artificial sweeteners, whilst increasing the price paid in shops and blaming the sugar tax, making heir profits sky-high - incredible that so many fell for it...).

My Dad nearly burst into tears the first time we bought a chicken from a Farmer's Market and had roast chicken. He'd been so depressed that chicken tasted so bland and had no texture any more (this is 1990s supermarkets before most people were bothered or aware) - when he had a decent chook that had lived a decent natural life, he was so pleased!