2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

Wraithlady said:

CraftyLittleLisa said:

Can I ask you all.  I also have a huge amount of fabric scraps that I don't like to throw but I will never use it all.  How would you go about giving them a new home/recycling?

The V & A have a pattern section on their website, one of the patterns is for a Sashiko tote bag. 

Here it is:) https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/make-your-own-japanese-boro-bag

joedenise

I was looking through my fabric stash and have come across some suede type fabric and have absolutely no idea what to use it for.  Any ideas?

CapricornLass

Hi everyone,  glad to see that you are all well and keeping very busy! 

I have a spend to declare - three pairs of soft yellow cotton socks.  But I have a problem.  The coupon count is one coupon per pair of ankle socks - and these are not ankle, more a mid calf length.  Would 4 1/2 coupons be sufficient, do you think?  If so that would bring the yearly spend up to 14 points. 

My parents are moving to a Care/Nursing home, as my mother's leg is much worse, her spine has crumbled further and she is virtually unable to move unaided.  My sister and I have done the best we can, but she needs professional care 24 hrs a day now and we are still both working as well. Fortunately they offer dementia care as well, so Dad is able to go with her.  They are able to share a room together, which is nice as they celebrated 65 years of marriage this year.  We will have to sell their bungalow, but have to clear it first.  They are both hoarders.... wish us luck!  One bonus, I have acquired a rather nice full zip up fleece 'sheepskin.  I've also got my beady eye on her dishwasher.  Would you believe it, the motor on mine is defunct after less than 3 1/2 years of buying it new?  A seal went and its not only damaged the motor but also rusted the bottom metal plate, and is starting to rust one of the side panels. Its a Miele too - so much for their claims of longevity! 

thriftwizard

@CraftyLittleLisa, IIRC you're somewhere in the next county east; I don't know whether you're within easy reach of Bournemouth but the Dorset Scrapstore always welcome donations of fabric scraps if you can get them to them. I'm pretty sure there's one in Southampton too, and in fact all they're dotted about all over the country. Plus I'm always giving away scraps on Freecycle/Freegle; quilters love them, as do people working with small children. We have people locally making little dresses & shorts for African orphanages locally (all cotton & polycotton) plus people quilting away for Project Linus. One lass makes & sells lampshades out of brightly-coloured scraps, one lady cuts jam-jar covers for the produce she sells at the local car boots. If you don't have a local Freegle group, FB Marketplace and/or Gumtree both work well.

skogar

Sorry for being MIA for so long. I have a frivolous spend to report. A very brightly coloured african fabric patchwork skirt with pockets.  Each square is perhaps 6". It's completely mad but with all those colours can be worn with almost anything I think. So that's me down from 66 coupons to 59. Will have to work out how to do a signature with it on.

skogar

Thriftlady - It sounds like those curtains are talking to you to tell you that where you had thought of first is not the right place for them. I wonder where it is? Maybe they will tell you. Perhaps they aren't curtains any more, maybe they want a new look, a new colour, perhaps they want to move house? If you find out what they are saying let us know.

Is it just me that thinks that soft furnishings have a mind of their own, at least they seem to here. I am not yet sure whether any of the curtains I have bought are actually going to end up in the room they were bought for!

skogar

Sorry for the many little posts - I have a tendency to click on things and delete them.

A few year ago I went to a cafe in Bavaria and in it there were some lovely fabric cats on the window ledges and shelves they were really cute and I asked my MIL if she would make one for me. We found a suitable pattern which was scaled to the right size and I chose some lovely green and blue fabric from her stash. He is a splendid creature. He was going to sit on the window ledge but of course once he came home I couldn't put him there as he would fade and loose his magnificence so I put him on the writing table.

When I had to work from home I had to use the writing table as a desk so he got moved to the top of one of the bedside cabinets. He looked great, so great that I really wanted one for the other bedside cabinet too. My MIL has agreed to make me another so at the weekend we went fabric hunting in the stash and in the 4th and last drawer we found this old liberty fabric. I have managed to find a picture of the fabric design.

The cat pattern is this one but slightly adapted to have an oval base so it stands up better,

I am very excited.

I forgot to say, on the bed there is a lovely patchwork quilt with cats on which I admired very much when my MIL first made it and 20 years later she gave it to me. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it.

Cherryfudge

@CapricornLass, what a hard time for your family. I hope the move goes smoothly and your parents can feel at home. You have done well to recognise that the best care is now professional care. Being carers is such a huge job and professionals get time off between shifts, which family don't. Staff may also have wider experience which will help them care for your parents, but they'll need your insights to make it truly personalised care. A page or so of life history for carers to read might be useful. I can remember one of the staff being absolutely fascinated by Mum's wartime exploits once I wrote them down! Also a photo album of friends and family, labelled so staff can talk in a meaningful way to your Dad and help him remember people and things that matter to him, and some idea of likes and dislikes.

There is useful info online for moving people into care, things like not leaving a suitcase in view so they won't feel they are about to leave. You may also find families associated with others in the care home who will have helpful ideas: I'm trying to remember what else was said to me... if your Dad forgets who has visited (once visits are up and running again), have a visitors' book where people can leave a short message. Care homes often have clocks with the date as well as the time which some people find useful. If I remember rightly, the Alzheimer's Society have information to help families, whether or not Alzheimer's is involved.

I'm just coming towards the end of sorting out my parents' accumulated clutter, and it's been an adventure. It's so nice when you find things you can inherit that bring joy and good memories. I am sure the sheepskin will keep you snug and warm for a long time to come, and hopefully the dishwasher will come in useful, too! It's also an oddly healing process if you have the chance to work through things yourself rather than have someone else do it.

You probably won't have much opportunity to update us over the next few weeks, but do let us know how it all goes when you come up for air.  

Cherryfudge

@skogar, the cat is gorgeous! I love the contented smile.  

Cherryfudge

Well, as you may have gathered, I've emerged from under the sewing machine. I didn't even get it out till a quarter to eight, it was that big a deal, then it took an hour to get it working properly. When I first got it I spent an afternoon finding help on the internet as the instructions were inadequate. This time around, having got my head round inserting the bobbin (don't just feed the thread as per instructions, pull it to one side or the thing will just snarl at you), I launched into a trial run but got mad loops of bright orange on one side so I started searching online again and this time found the manufacturers have a really good video that illustrates far better than the manual what to do for potential problems. My old machine used to have issues with the top tension but on this one it's a whole new learning curve as I found three problems with the bottom stitches. Firstly the video showed how to check and modify the bobbin tension (it was too loose), then it helpfully mentioned that the bobbin should click into place. No mention of that in the manual, which is probably why the bobbin has dropped out from time to time! Thirdly, once the bobbin and its casing were behaving themselves, I had a good look at the shuttle casing (I don't know what its proper name is) and realised it was designed to be lifted out. I lifted it out and put it back - and I'm pretty sure I put it back as it was meant to be, rather than as I'd received it. Suddenly it responded with actual stitches when I pressed the treadle.

I suppose people who have the wisdom to buy their sewing machines from small shops probably get a free lesson and a helpful chat with the shopkeeper. They might even have a shop that checks everything is in the right way round! Mine was a gift and came via a big retailer so I didn't get those things.

It took from 7.45 till 11pm but I now have a kitchen towel that looks as though it was completed by a distracted five year old, but I'm rather proud of it. I also have a sewing machine that can manage more than a  couple of inches without snarling everything up, and a conviction that the words 'hand finished' are a polite way of saying 'had no idea how to make the machine go through thick bits'.