2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

joedenise

Where's the "funny" button?  I really miss all the emoji's we used to have.

MrsCD

I have a coupon spend to declare. I had to buy 100g of white acrylic yarn to crochet some wings for Gabriel in my friend's nativity set. I think that's 1 coupon. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I finished the socks made with West Yorkshire spinners Christmas yarn that I bought last year. Now I'm using some tiny pompom yarn to make a baby blanket for my cousin's son and partner. 
Here are the socks if anyone wants to see...

Cherryfudge

Beautiful makes, @Laura_Elsewhere and @MrsCD. I too love the pocket, and those socks make me think of an autumn day with the leaves falling and a bit of a nip in the air, the time of year when it's delightful to get out the hygge colder weather clothing, but before we have to layer up much.

I have a spend to declare but it's coming out of DH's coupons. I have told him and he gave me a tolerant smile. I've ordered a couple of balls of yarn to try to supplement the now-unobtainable dark charcoal yarn that I'm using for his jumper: the first is one of the nearest matches and the other is the same wool but a different colour so I can put stripes across the front to eke out the main wool. That's my preferred option but we'll see if the other comes close. There is a third option - a posher version which looks very like the original but costs a lot more so I'm havering on that one.

Another spend on DH's behalf - yarn for a different jumper that we both liked very much. As he wrecks commercial jumpers it seems to make sense to try a completely different tactic and do handmade with reinforced seams!

PipneyJane

Those socks are very cheerful, @MrsCD.

I have spent the last three days trying to talk myself out of a spend.  I like French handbags bags that can convert to backpacks.  This is my current bag, purchased in France in September 2019, back when the world was open.  (I love that phrase, @maryb.)  Being me, I waited for its predecessor to "die" before I started using it this past weekend.   It's not quite a TARDIS (unlike my other favourite bag style, the small BRICS backpack, into which I can put my regular bits, plus my iPAD, and stuff a cardigan), but it holds quite a lot while still being small enough to be inobtrusive.  Beyond a cursory check, nobody looked twice at it when I walked into Wembley on Saturday.  (Current contents include an umbrella, my wallet, my glasses case, and a zip-topped makeup bag containing my sock-de-jour knitting.)

The problem is that a) this style of handbag is really hard to find, even in France, and b) I know from bitter experience that the metal strap anchors on this one will break after a year or so of regular wear.  (I am on my third convertable handbag.  I bought the first in 2003.  It had similar metal strap anchors and lasted a year.  The others were different styles.  I used the most recent for over 4 years and still regret throwing out when it died.  I'm 99% certain that it was a predecessor of this one from the same manufacturer.)

Anyway, since digging the current handbag out of the closet and looking it up on the Hexagona website, I've been going round-and-around in circles. Do I buy another one?  Do I buy the bag with the leather strap anchors?  Do I buy both?  The price isn't an issue - I've saved far more than that in my "Clothes Account" over the last year - nor is the inevitable having to pay import VAT on it (damn Brexit); what's holding me back is the coupon cost.  If I buy both, that's 10 coupons spent.  I have 47 coupons left and I don't want to waste them.   At some point, I will need new trainers for running, plus a pair for slobbing around in and, maybe, a pair of shoes for work.  (I'm hard on shoes.)  I'll possibly need a couple of new bras, too.  Suddenly, I'm down to 20 coupons without buying a new suit or dress or any fabric....

Arrgggghhhhhh!!!!!!!

- Pip (I've promised myself that I'll come to a decision today.)

Laura_Elsewhere

@Cherryfudge, there's a good argument for going for the same wool but in a different contrast-or-toning colour - they'll wash and wear the same. I've got away with mixing yarns a few times but it is always a risk, in case one behaves differently from the other. If you do go for mixing different yarns, I would definitely suggest knitting a swatch using both, and washing it as you will be washing the jumper, several times. 

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane, ok, let's get clever with your coupons. 

Could you ask someone to give you one or both of the bags for a Christmas or birthday present? Then it would come out of their coupons. 
Do you have shoes that could be re-heeled/ re-soled and thus save you having to buy a new work pair? If not, can you get work shoes that can be re-done, meaning at least for future years you are repairing rather than buying.
Can you find either the work-shoes or the slobbing-around shoes BNWT (brand new with tags) or barely-worn [del.as personal pref.] on eBay which would be coupon-free?

The running-shoes you can't compromise on - you only get the one spine and set of knees, so you can't put those at risk. 

Bras? Can any of your current ones keep going a little longer? Do some bras last better than others and if so can you at least buy those if you have to buy new, so you aren't having the same problem as quickly? Do you have a box/cupboard-shelf/drawer anywhere of old stuff you've forgotten about, that might have a decent bra somewhere in it, or the slobbing shoes? 

Cherryfudge

Typed a comment and lost it!

@PipneyJane, I think you, like me, are a serial buyer - find the perfect item once and buy it again, possibly in different colours. Those all look really good bags but the problem is the metal. Could you find a shoe repairer or saddler who would replace the strap anchors in leather? I have a leather bag (bought second hand at a car boot sale many years ago) that requires nothing more than a turn through the washing machine and a new coat of leather dye once a year, and that has leather everything except the lining and the zip. I do get the feeling though - when you find something that is just right for you, why change it?

@Laura_Elsewhere, I'm so glad you said that as my favoured option is the same yarn in a lighter colour (I bought the last ball, literally the last in that yarn and colour combination that I could find anywhere) and have been working out Fibonacchi stripes to include it in the jumper. DH isn't madly keen but that's because he has a horror of colour and has fallen for the dark charcoal colour. I think he will be converted by the lighter grey being equally gorgeous.

PipneyJane

@Cherryfudge - yes, you are right.  I am a serial buyer.  I find it so hard to find what I like that, when I do, I try to buy "enough".  Also, I have the knack of picking things that go out of manufacture/out of fashion, never to be seen again, so if I really like a style, I will stock up.  (If anyone spots a classic trench coat, with a warm, detachable lining that includes sleeves, please let me know.  The one I bought in 2001 is looking very shabby.)

@Laura_Elsewhere - I like your thinking.  I may ask DH to buy me trainers for my birthday.  It's in August, so only a couple of weeks after I get to my 1-year-a-runner anniversary.  At the most, I'll have done about 400 miles in the current pair.  (I'm doing less than 9 miles a week and these are only worn for running.)

There are several pairs of casual shoes that I could be wearing instead of my default, black trainers.  I just need to change that habit and find where they're lurking.  (In a box somewhere.)

Work-shoe-wise, I could return to wearing my RM Williams Pony Club Riding Boots  under the trousers of my suits, which have leather soles and heels.  (They look like Chelsea Boots.)   I wore them constantly for a couple of years, then had to send them back to Australia to be resoled.  (RM Williams staff kindly sent them back with a packet of Arnott's Mint Slices secreted in the box.  They know how to please homesick Aussies.) They are worth every penny I paid.  I think I stopped wearing them after that because I love them so much that I didn't want to waste them.  (If that makes sense?  I know it's not logical.)  My current favourite under-a-skirt shoes are charity shop bargains and, even before lockdown, rarely got worn because if I'm in a highways depot, I'd rather wear trousers.

On the bra front, I'm aware that the current batch were all bought at about the same time, so will wear out at about the same time. I can't remember when I purchased them; it must have been 2017.  Having said that, they're good quality and aren't showing signs of wear, even after 3 or 4 years, so should easily last until next year.

Oh sod it!  I'll buy both bags.

- Pip (defiant.)


ETA:  Actually, I can't.  They ship to the US or Australia but guess which country is not listed on their website?  Yes.  The UK is not listed.  Another reason to hate Brexit.

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane - get them shipped to family or friends in Australia and get them to post them on to you, well-insured... maybe with Arnott's...  

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane, that's really interesting reading, y'know. 

You've gone from "At some point, I will need new trainers for running, plus a pair for slobbing around in and, maybe, a pair of shoes for work.  (I'm hard on shoes.)  I'll possibly need a couple of new bras, too. " to potentially not spending any coupons on those things: running-shoes as a present, bring disused-but-still-fine slobbing-shoes back into use, start wearing really well-made, long-lasting, properly-made boots into wear, and no need to replace items showing "no sign of wear"...! 

How much of our buying is this kind of habit, I wonder? Not so much for me, which might be why I'm picking up on yours- I know my weakness is buying a new item as a treat to cheer myself up, regardless of its not going with anything else and/or being poor quality so not lasting... 
But maybe you could look at your really good-quality RMWilliams boots, and think, "hang about, these are how boots used to be made, and if I take reasonable care of them, polish them from time to time, get them re-heeled or re-soled when they need it, then they actually could last another twenty years." I know exactly what you mean about not wearing them in case you wear them out (I do the same!), but these are exactly the kinds of items we all *should* wear more: the sort that are designed and made to last, to be repaired, to keep on going, looking better and better, being really comfortable and NOT needing to be replaced each year!

Those RMWilliams boots are the kind of quality things that are how our grandmothers managed on the clothes coupons. Things that lasted... Wear them and glory in their *not* wearing out!