2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

There are masses of really nice ways to use up a man's work shirt - some are change of function, like a child's dress or a tote bag, but there are some really nice ways to turn one into a really nice top that doesn't look like it was once a shirt! 

One option, if you wear short-/cap-sleeved blouses, would be to take the collar off, shorten the sleeves, using the cut-off sleeve fabric to make a new collar and possibly cuffs for the shortened sleeves (or you can just do some clever folding to turn cut-above-elbow into cuffed-short sleeves). 

Put 'old shirts' into Pinterest and you get masses - I've got a list of some, because I have a few of My Intended's old shirts and if he isn't really ever going back to the office I shall have more as he hasn't worn a shirt in 15 months now  

Have a scroll through these https://wonderfuldiy.com/11-wonderful-ideas-to-refashion-your-shirts/

This one is more my style http://littlebluemouse.blogspot.com/2011/11/he-cant-have-it-back-now.html

This is pretty too and would work well with trousers for semi-formal work, I think. In French, but still fairly clear. http://sortantdelecole.canalblog.com/archives/2012/07/11/24687927.html

And this one is lovely - what makes this one (I think) is what you do for edging, facings, trim/thread/buttons, whether you go for contrast or co-ordination.  https://www.sumoftheirstories.com/blog//2016/06/easy-summer-top-pattern-review-and.html

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

There are masses of really nice ways to use up a man's work shirt - some are change of function, like a child's dress or a tote bag, but there are some really nice ways to turn one into a really nice top that doesn't look like it was once a shirt! 

One option, if you wear short-/cap-sleeved blouses, would be to take the collar off, shorten the sleeves, using the cut-off sleeve fabric to make a new collar and possibly cuffs for the shortened sleeves (or you can just do some clever folding to turn cut-above-elbow into cuffed-short sleeves). 

Put 'old shirts' into Pinterest and you get masses - I've got a list of some, because I have a few of My Intended's old shirts and if he isn't really ever going back to the office I shall have more as he hasn't worn a shirt in 15 months now  

Have a scroll through these https://wonderfuldiy.com/11-wonderful-ideas-to-refashion-your-shirts/

This one is more my style http://littlebluemouse.blogspot.com/2011/11/he-cant-have-it-back-now.html

This is pretty too and would work well with trousers for semi-formal work, I think. In French, but still fairly clear. http://sortantdelecole.canalblog.com/archives/2012/07/11/24687927.html

And this one is lovely - what makes this one (I think) is what you do for edging, facings, trim/thread/buttons, whether you go for contrast or co-ordination.  https://www.sumoftheirstories.com/blog//2016/06/easy-summer-top-pattern-review-and.html

Thanks Laura.  Food for thought.  I really like the last one, although I love the sleeves in the Little Blue Mouse one.

- Pip

PollyWollyDoodle

I was thinking just use the fabric for a camisole/vest type top, I bet the fabric is really soft after so much wear. But Laura’s idea is good if you can keep some of the original elements. 

Cherryfudge

I saw this in a charity shop today (I love a gadget, especially an old one). Is it something to do with rug making?

PipneyJane

I honestly don't know, @Cherryfudge. How big was it?  (It's hard to tell from the picture.)  @Laura_Elsewhere - do you know what it is?

- Pip

TwibbleDee

There's a page on Facebook that posts random bits from Texas history.  I thought y'all might get a kick out of today's:

"An old, old man got to remembering down in Texas the other day, and when somebody questioned a statement he made, he hauled forth from the tray of an ancient horsehair trunk yellowed letters that have the haughtiest crest of British royalty, and two very famous signatures.

When he showed them around, he not only convinced his hearers that his story was true, but he made public for the first time a tale of both homely and historic value ---- a tale that casts a very human sidelight upon the most famous of modern monarchs, Queen Victoria.

The venerable Texan's name is Shannon ----- last survivor of that famous family that, headed by Colonel Thomas Jefferson Shannon, prairie-schoonered its way into that vast and howling wilderness in the days of head-rights and buffalo. The old Colonel, a bluff, hard riding, sharp-shooting old plainsman, is remembered as the man who introduced the Red Durham strain into the cattle business of the West.

It now appears that that start ----- probably the parent herd of all the Durham cattle in America today, was a male and two females sent to Colonel Shannon by none other than Victoria, herself, and sent to him merely because he wrote her a letter saying he'd like a sample of the cattle she liked best.

He was only a plainsman living in an uncharted wilderness, but ... he sat down and wrote the Queen of England ... simply asked her to sell him some of her livestock. He told her who he was, where he lived, and what he wanted with it. The order was for a male and two females, and he generously offered to let her set any price she thought was fair.

Two months later the Queen herself wrote. It was a friendly but business-like letter. She said she'd be glad to let the colonel have the stock as he requested, and if he'd pay the freight on them from New Orleans to his North Texas home, she'd be glad to make him a present of them .... and in 1848 the bull and two cows landed from a British ship in New Orleans.

The colonel conveyed them carefully from there to North Texas. There were no railroads, but he placed them in wagons. At frequent intervals he unloaded them, fed them, and let them graze for a day or two. He at last got them home in perfect condition and they founded the herd that was the sensation of the old Southwest.

The old colonel never forgot the graciousness of England's queen. He sent her reports from time to time as to how her transplanted stock was flourishing in the New World. He named his first daughter "Victoria" in her honor and one of his sons was christened "Albert" in honor of her consort."

------- Norfolk (Virginia) News, March 20, 1926. I have to say that I love little slices of human-interest history like this one. To think that the Queen of England would be so humored by this simple man's letter that she would actually send a bull and two cows all the way to New Orleans at her own expense is just too great.

Cherryfudge

That’s a great story, @TwibbleDee! I follow a social history group on Facebook that sometimes has wonderfully personal stories too. I think social history is so important.

Cherryfudge

Hope this shows the scale- I could hold it easily in one hand. It’s shaped rather like a guitar and the ring slides up and down.

TwibbleDee

https://laurelleaffarm.com/item-pages/lot-vintage-rug-tools-punch-needle-hooks-hoop-braided-rugmaking-tool-set-Laurel-Leaf-Farm-item-no-nt88162.htm

Definitely a rug-making tool.  "The Susan Burr Hooked Rug Machine" is what I'm reading on the leaflet in the picture with it.

Cherryfudge

Well found, @TwibbleDee! I've some more recent (c.1960) rug hooks as my Mum made several rugs... but this one is new to me. It wouldn't cost any coupons, either, if the shop still has it...