2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

maryb

Fabric it is - it's a sheath and the sleeves aren't lined so needs less than a metre. 0.8 is plenty
How did they deal with coupons where you bought less than a yard? 

PipneyJane

maryb said:

Morning all.  I'm making a dress from stash fabric but I need to buy lining.  Does that count as fabric which needs coupons or is it haberdashery which doesn't?  I could count it as a slip - most dresses in the 1940s weren't lined, women wore slips instead which could be laundered together with dress shields so that the outer dress didn't have to be washed as often.
But I'm right in thinking the zip and thread don't need coupons aren't I?

Sadly, @maryb, lining material does count as coupons spent.  How much fabric do you need for the lining?  I like your idea costing it as a slip BUT it may be cheaper, coupon wise, to cost it as fabric, especially if you can buy 1.5m-wide lining fabric.  

Yes, the zip and thread don't need coupons.

- Pip

PipneyJane

maryb said:

Fabric it is - it's a sheath and the sleeves aren't lined so needs less than a metre. 0.8 is plenty
How did they deal with coupons where you bought less than a yard? 

They probably expected you to buy the whole yard.  You can always use the excess for sewing in pockets somewhere.

- Pip

Cherryfudge

I've had a wunnerful time catching up, though I'm bound to miss something I wanted to reply to...

@Laura_Elsewhere, that green is one of my favoured colours, though I think I'd cry at the behaviour of the fabric. The baby vest is really cute, and makes me feel better about having a half-knitted baby garment that's thirty years old.

@thriftwizard, I think the curtains should be donated/sold in the interests of your peace of mind. Either that or get some dye.

@joedenise, your go-to quick solution (sewing machine) puts me in awe. I have just spent an hour or so entering old receipts into a spreadsheet rather than clear the table with one swell foop and getting my machine out as I'd promised myself. In theory I learnt to use a sewing machine at school but I made mistakes which dented my confidence and when I got a new machine, they seem to have changed the rules (I went to lower the needle and the whole presser foot fell off)! Sewing by hand is easier and probably quicker for me.

I decided to spend a long car journey on some crochet and am pleased to report I've completed a border for a rescued towel. This is the bath towel that had a line of weak thread and came in two long before its time, then was chopped up to make kitchen towels. I think I've used most of it now, and in the process had lots of crochet practice and used up quite a bit of garish craft yarn that actually looks great against the dull dark blue. However this latest border hasn't been applied directly so I need to sew it in place using The Machine. Everything that's been said about procrastination applies here. At least the receipts are fewer and there's a little bit more space on the table. Great what gets done when something else is lurking ominously.

I also retrieved some fabric and old clothes that had been bagged up at Mum's, and which any sensible person would have put in the recycling. There are some lengths of old fashioned sheeting (my Grandma had what would nowadays be an Airbandb and they made things to last). They have what looks like foxing - can you get that on fabric? - little rusty spots. I'm not going to bleach them as the fabric is so old, even if it's still good to work with. I might end up making tote bags that I can dye, not because I need tote bags but because beginners' guides to machine sewing seem to think they will be good experience. (Or they can see into the future and realise that every bag will eventually hold WIP or procrastinated projects). I really don't know what to do with the woollens, I might have to come back to those another day.

I don't think I said but immediately before our latest trip I bought some more circular needles and point protectors which have cost me £15.21. That's an expensive way of using up a charity shop ball of yarn, but nothing I already had would work - either beyond my skill set or wrong for the yarn.

If I don't re-emerge in the next day or two, the swing machine got me.  

Cherryfudge

And on the subject of things we don't finish but always intend to - I have loads of embroideries, some cross stitch and assorted difficult mends, most of which are jumpers. DH wrecks them.

Laura_Elsewhere

@Cherryfudge - another David Niven fan! "clear the table with one swell foop"  

Cherryfudge

I found this in the woollens bag: DH and I are wondering whether it might be demob, though I don’t remember there being any sweaters mentioned. The label says 1945, but who puts dates in knitwear?
I washed it in Stergene, and while some grey got into the water, the stains won’t shift. There is also yellowing inside the neck, presumably a chemical change from wear though it’s not at all worn-looking. Some small moth holes but those are from storage. I suspect it’s all wool, but machine made.
Thoughts appreciated please!

Cherryfudge

This wouldn’t load with the rest:

Laura_Elsewhere

@Cherryfudge - I don't think that's demob - I think that's Royal Navy issue, possibly for submariners... 

My British Army pyjamas had 1953 stamped inside them when new, and my RAF greatcoat had 1968 on a label sewn in, so I think this has 1945 on the label simply as part of the standard supply logistics record. 

May I share the pics? I have friends who may be able to help...

Edit to Add: as a starting place I googled *"S.D.Stretton" navy jersey 1945* and got a single result, the Ministry of Labour Gazette for 1936 - putting 'stretton' into a 'find' box I located one mention on p.46, the very last page, last column, in  list of Crown Agents To The Colonies. 
The last pages are a listing of every single company supplying materials to the government, the List of New Contracts 1936 - "Knitted Drawers" are listed under the Admiralty! It's everything - loudspeakers, pipe flange facings, slates (roofing), drainpipes, glass (window), you name it, there's a contract for it, and all published. 

Anyway, S.D.Stretton of Leicester are listed as suppliers of "Jerseys" in the category of Crown Agents to the Colonies. Now to me, that jersey of yours looks exceptionally like a seaman's jersey and I think when war came, the contract may have been extended to navy supplying. 
I think it's potentially something a museum may want, if they don't have one already - I shall keep looking and if I may I shall ask some others. 

Laura_Elsewhere

And this is the uniform one issued to Navy - in navy blue since he Great War - so maybe yours is something non-standard? https://talesfromthesupplydepot.blog/2017/04/03/royal-navy-seamans-jersey/