2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

wit40iwtwan said:

It sure is a bit of a panic buy as it took so long to find ones that fit... but as I have enough for this year instead of the 6 I am just going to buy 2 instead - that will more than cover the rest of my year (i.e. I started only in in May so I am finishing in May 22....)

Besides as things change next year they may not fit as well... 

You can always regard them as being the long-sought, precious things they are and do the things nobody ever does with bras that extend their lives - wear them alternately, and when you undress hang up the one you wore all day to air overnight; hand wash one each week (if wearing alternately and airing you don't need to wash them both weekly) using the same soap or mild shampoo you use for yourself and rinsing mega-well, hang up to dry away from direct sun or heat-sources... 
I still have bras I bought in France in 2006 which are fine... treat them kindly and they live much longer   

Laura_Elsewhere

skogar said:

Spend to report.

As I have really wide feet buying shoes is a problem. I bought some nice navy ankle boots in a 6E width over a year ago and wanted some similar black ones but they have had none available in my size for months. Padder now have a sale on (and this time actually some wide fitting things in my size - hence a major coupon spend). Very happy as I normally have to pay full price for shoes and all were half price or less.

2 pairs of black ankle boots

1 pair of black shoes

1 pair of red shoes

So a total of 20 coupons spent. So with the 7 already spent on the skirt that takes me down to 39.

Now that is really wise spending! I wasted lots of money over quite a few years getting feet that were more and more painful in the process... it is *so* much worth looking after your feet!!

PollyWollyDoodle

Another member of the wide feet club here (I can’t help wondering if we are actually in a majority, why do they make shoes in standard fittings?).  My biggest expenditure last year was on three pairs of boots, no regrets. They have been worn constantly. I try and buy all my clothes secondhand, but shoes are the exception (and underwear). 

Laura_Elsewhere

Liverpool_Anne said:

@Laura_Elsewhere please let us know when you find a suitable yarn for baby things, like you I have been using mashine washable stuff working on the basis that new Mums really have got better things to do than standing at the sink hand washing. It really makes you think about how our Mums and Grandmothers fitted it all in. They must have been super women

I am HUGELY impressed by your moth-fighting efforts! Very good work... 

Re your father's scarves - can the holes be darned? One thing that can help while you decide is to use a single strand of sewing thread and just sew small running stitches in a spiral round each hole, just drawing it up snug, not enough to gather it into a bunched-up lump, but just enough to snug it up and draw the hole's edges a bit more firmly to stabilise them and reduce the chance of tearing or fraying further. You can also use a steam-iron with a damp tea-towel to give them a really good going-over which will also kill moth-eggs... 

How my Gran managed during the war was probably by not having social media and telly to gobble up the hours And the old adage of "if you want a thing done properly, ask a busy person" is definitely true, ime. I think she just got on with things briskly, and had the habits that we have mostly lost. Yes, she did hand-washing of baby-Dad's woollens BUT she'd have done less laundry than we do - things weren't washed after wearing them once, babies and toddlers wore bibs and overalls, she would have worn aprons and overalls, Grandaddy probably wore a shirt 2-3 times and changed his vest daily, Gran's skirts and dresses would only have been carefully washed once or twice a year if that; mostly, men's suits and women's skirts and wool dresses would never have been washed, but only spot-cleaned, aired and freshened - they changed their underclothes daily and washed daily, but the result would have been far smaller laundry piles... as well as having fewer clothes anyway! 

It's worth adding that there are very very very few references to people smelling in old diaries and journals - and I don't believe that's because everyone stank so nobody noticed - you DO get it cropping up in the 1960s and 70s when everyone starts wearing synthetic or synthetic-blend clothing, but you don't get it eg during the war when dozens of people spend hours packed into an unventilated air-raid shelter - you get mentions of someone's coat smelling of mothballs or someone having dreadful bad breath or the smell from the 'privy' buckets. But by and large there's virtually no mention of people having BO... 

CAFCGirl

@Laura_Elsewhere

Interesting about the body smells isn't it? Does it tie in rather nicely with the introduction of the synthetic fabrics, machine washing and increased sedentary roles.... in windowless buildings, all day long, no air movement?

Laura_Elsewhere

@CAFCGirl, certainly all of that won't help! 

When I lived for 3 months in the South of France I bought some white tops; as my building had only two washing-machines for lots and lots of studio-apartments mostly occupied by solo people from the Far East who did A LOT of laundry I never actually managed to use one, so I just did all my laundry for three months in the bathroom basin for smalls and the kitchen sink for everything else inc double-sheets and double-duvet-cover! I managed fine, and never thought much either way about it. 
Then I went home, and even in the local Edinburgh beautifully-soft water after a few washes my lovely white tops were going dingey grey-yellow-white... so I soaked them overnight and hand-washed them and bingo, up they came like an advert again, properly-white... it started me observing and I have concluded that washing-machines are wonderful and invaluable but are actually no guarantee that your clothes end up properly clean. 
So now I spot-treat stains before washing, and I soak some items, and I use the different cycles for different things, and the upshot is that it takes more effort but our laundry is clean and stain-free, and My Intended is surprised that his clothes don't wear out like they used to (I wash them less often, at a lower temperature, using gentler detergent and no "fabric conditioner" disastrous stuff, but don't tell him ) ... 

It isn't all that much effort tbh. One orange 12-litre bucket from B&Q for a quid, and I use Bio-Tex or plain washing-soda for soaking, often simply cold tapwater for an overnight soak will do it. I use Ecover Biological for the washing machine, and Ecover Non-Bio for very occasional woollens-washes but mostly for woollens I use no detergent and just exploit the 19-minute cold-water-only rinse cycle and 1400rpm spin which cleans all my socks and cardis and so on beautifully (wool is naturally anti-bacterial so needs little or no detergent). 

PollyWollyDoodle

I seem to remember an experiment where the fabulous Ruth Goodman experimented with wearing traditional clothes. Actually it might have been the chap who was working on the Victorian Farm programme, and they came to that conclusion @Laura_Elsewhere. Wearing natural fabrics they didn’t develop BO, despite doing physical work and washing less often. As you’ll know, Ruth does not just do things for a day for the TV programmes, she lives the part for weeks at a time.  

Interesting, I have known for a long time that it’s washing that wears your clothes out rather than actually wearing them in most cases. I definitely wash mine much less often, years ago I would’ve just put everything into the wash every night. 

maryb

Unfortunately, I am naturally messy.  I should wear an apron more often.  Funnily enough, when I wear a skirt, it feels natural to wear an apron but when I wear jeans I feel all bundled up with too much round my legs

Laura_Elsewhere

maryb said:

Unfortunately, I am naturally messy.  I should wear an apron more often.  Funnily enough, when I wear a skirt, it feels natural to wear an apron but when I wear jeans I feel all bundled up with too much round my legs

I also shoulder wear aprons a LOT more often...! I actually keep a "messy-hands" tea-towel on the sink-cupboard handle in the kitchen specifically for wiping doughy or floury or oily hands on! 

Have you tried the waiters' aprons? I have one which I do wear when I remember - a rectangle that nearly meets at the back and is knee-length at least... you can wear it long if you're doing really messy stuff, but mostly I used to fold mine up so the lower hem folded over the top edge and came down in front by about 3-4 inches. It sounds more complex than it is to do  
Hold apron and fold up the bottom to overlap the top. Put apron against you, leaving the now-at-the-top-lower-hem sticking up floppily, and cross the extra-long strings behind you, bringing them round to the front to tie in a bow where you can see and reach it so you don't get knot-problems. Then fold down the lower-hem-now-at-the-top to cover the strings and the bow, and you have a surprisingly practical apron that doesn't get in the way but covers practically all your hips and waist. If it gets dirty, you can take it off and fold it the other way round so the dirty side is inside the folds, meaning your clothes stay clean but you have a 'new' clean apron  

skogar

Definitely advantages in wearing natural fabric. Synthetic walking tops are very light for doing long distance walks but on the continent in hot weather soon smell truly dreadful and washing facilities in the higher alpine huts can be very limited due to the limited amount available and can be cold water only. Merino wool tops are highly prized for their low smell properties!