2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I looked up my pics of M.I.'s jumper re-edging and I think your jumper's holes may be the same kind of years and years of wear-and-tear as his. It was like this almost all the way round, perhaps only an inch or two without holes. 



I ran a line of running stitch in deliberately contrasting thread to stabilise everything, before trimming the edge. I left it loose-ish so I could crochet the new edge with the jumper pulled to full stretch. 

Then I crocheted a new edge on:




After a wash, it is simply not noticeable. On the pink, I would use a deliberate darker pink, or a contrast like burgundy or deep yellow, but I think it wouldn't need to be only if you wear it tucked in. M.I.'s looks fine, and I've used crochet as an edging on cardigan-hems as I've knitted them and nobody's ever marched up and demanded to know why I'm wearing a knitted garment with a crocheted edge  

Beautiful work, as always, @Laura_Elsewhere.  It is virtually impossible to see the colour difference and, you are right, nobody will notice the edging unless they have their nose right up to it.  I'm assuming you used a slip stitch, yes?

Fingers crossed for @thriftwizard that she can match the colour.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane - I have no idea what stitch I used!! I don't actually know the names of any crochet stitches... with patterns I can only use the ones from the non-English-speaking world who sensibly do charts, which I can follow  

I did low knots, that's my own name for it... shove the hook through and grab the yarn and pull it to the front, making two strands over the hook, and then pull the yarn through both, leaving one new strand over he hook, and repeat... does that make any sense?
I just made it up, tbh, like I do nearly all crochet except a few 19th-century edgings and he Edlothia shawl I keep making  

thriftwizard

Right - I have found a decent match thread-wise and am currently stabilising the edge; I haven't (yet) tracked down a cashmere laceweight yarn that would work (IMHO!) but will probably crochet round the edge when I do, and yes, the sleeve edge too. There are no other signs of wear & tear (the cuffs are perfect, even where they'd be turned-back for shorter arms) or staining, which I'd expect if it had stood up to years of wear, so I'm going with the stitched-skirt theory.

If it was recycled in this area, I'd even hazard a guess who it had belonged to previously! A lady who married riches, but came to rest in the sheltered housing scheme I used to work at because that's where her old playmates & schoolfriends were, though none of them had been so "fortunate" - if fortune it actually was. She had the "penthouse" flat & always bought the very best of everything (i.e. the most expensive) and thought nothing of chopping things up if it suited her! She had several "outfits" where she'd stitched a jumper onto a skirt (by hand, not very well) to avoid riding-up, as she'd probably slashed the waistband of the skirt to make room for her increasingly capacious tummy. I wouldn't expect her to still be with us, as that was over 10 years ago and most of the rest have passed on now, but she was the same age as my mother, who is still very much alive!

Cherryfudge

That's a really effective repair, @Laura_Elsewhere. Beautiful work.
Good luck @thriftwizard, I think a lot of us will want to see how it turns out! I wonder if it was your lady's? The profile seems about right and if she was in Extra Care it's possible she's either still with us or not long gone.

PipneyJane

Good morning All

@CapricornLass's story about her 35 year old tee-shirt made me start wondering about the age of some of my clothing and what I wear on a regular basis, so I started a game with myself, "Today I will mostly be wearing...". I was wondering if you'd like to play along with me.

Today, I will mostly be wearing:  

• A fleece that I purchased in 1998, when I tried out for the TA.  It was part of the kit we were told to bring along.  (Ditto the sports bra that I still wear for running.)
• The first pair of socks I ever knitted. Knitted while on holiday in Spain in 2006.  Until that point, I couldn't understand the fuss about sock knitting.
• M&S stretch jeans, probably purchased in 2019 but possibly in 2018.  (I bought 3 pairs early that year, after loving a pair I'd bought the year before, because they had front pockets large enough for my phone.)
• A stretch M&S white tee-shirt, purchased as part of a 3-pack in April 2000, just prior to a trip to Tenerife for a friend's Hen Do.  95% cotton, 5% elastane.  The other two are grey - sadly stained with dye from a blue scrunchie - and black.  I rarely wear this one because it's white and my bra clearly shows through.
• Oh, and today, I will mostly be knitting with yarn purchased in December 2012/January 2013, when I was home in Melbourne.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

Today I am wearing:
- green linen skirt made earlier this year from fabric given to me in 2019
- (underneath skirt) M&S dark blue linen shorts, bought BNWT on eBay, with deep crocheted-lade edging made with cotton thread bought as leftovers on Rav-destash
- linen camisole made this year with white linen bought before I moved here in 2014 and cotton thread bought this year
- green shirt, re-made by me last year; originally bought on eBay in 2016-17
- red mohair short-sleeved cardigan, knitted by me in ?2018, from unravelling of never-completed jumper given to me by someone at a sewing group
- socks I finished knitting yesterday using two shades of Rav-destash yarn bought last year and 4 or 5 years ago
- Church's brogues, from the 1960s, possibly 1950s, bought on eBay in c.2012
- handkerchief made by me from Rose & Hubble remnant bought in ?2015, cornflower-blue with navy tiny polka-dots

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Today I am wearing:
- green linen skirt made earlier this year from fabric given to me in 2019
- (underneath skirt) M&S dark blue linen shorts, bought BNWT on eBay, with deep crocheted-lade edging made with cotton thread bought as leftovers on Rav-destash
- linen camisole made this year with white linen bought before I moved here in 2014 and cotton thread bought this year
- green shirt, re-made by me last year; originally bought on eBay in 2016-17
- red mohair short-sleeved cardigan, knitted by me in ?2018, from unravelling of never-completed jumper given to me by someone at a sewing group
- socks I finished knitting yesterday using two shades of Rav-destash yarn bought last year and 4 or 5 years ago
- Church's brogues, from the 1960s, possibly 1950s, bought on eBay in c.2012
- handkerchief made by me from Rose & Hubble remnant bought in ?2015, cornflower-blue with navy tiny polka-dots

Thanks for playing along, @Laura_Elsewhere.  It makes you think, doesn't it, about the clothes for which we routinely reach?  (Well, it does, me.)

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

Oh, and I'm knitting stripes with a) five colours of 'gradient' yarn I was given in about 2015, plus b) one extra colour dyed by me using 25g of yarn I bought in c.2016, and c) a contrast alpaca yarn I bought in, er, before I moved here in 2014! 

I keep clothes going a very long time... which is partly why I have so many clothes! I'm trying to get rid of some... 

Nonnadiluca

Today I am mostly wearing ..... M&S jeans bought from charity shop about 2 years ago, Fat Face top bought in the sale about 5 years ago and Birkenstocks bought from TKMaxx about 5 years ago also. All slightly shabby but still ok. I've only been out walking the dogs and they don't care what I'm wearing! When I pop to the shop later I'll probably put on my long navy cardigan, it was my late Mum's : she's been gone for over 6 years now, but when I wear it it's liker getting a hug from her, so I'll keep it and wear it for as long as I can.

Nonnadiluca

Just bought a nice top from Dog's Trust to replace one I had to throw away yesterday as it was so far gone that even the dogs wouldn't be seen with me! £5 and no coupons.